GBSN CEO Archives

Connecting Across Sectors for Greater Impact: Welcome to GBSN Beyond

Posted on November 9, 2021November 10, 2021 by gbsn

What does a former President of Malawi have in common with the VP for Talent and Development at Amazon Web Services, former Chief Operational Risk Officer of the World Bank, Head of Human and Child Rights at the Ingka (formerly Ikea) Group, and the VP for Social Impact at Visa CAMEA? They all are keynote speakers at the GBSN Beyond Virtual Conference starting next week. See the full list of remarkable speakers here.

You can see from the agenda that GBSN Beyond is no ordinary conference in the business education space. Speakers come from business, civil society, and government, as well as academia because we believe innovation and impact occurs at the intersection of different perspective and that business schools are much more powerful forces of good when they are connected across sectors. You’ll also see considerable international diversity amongst the speakers, with as many coming from Africa, Asia-Pacific, and South America, as from Europe and the United State. But please don’t be misled by all the diversity. Although they operate in different sectors and geographic contexts, everyone participating in Beyond shares GBSN’s vision for the developing world to have the talent it needs to generate inclusive and sustainable prosperity.

In addition to a large number of sessions exploring the role and impact of business schools, the agenda addresses some of the most challenging issues facing society, especially in areas such as climate, health, and human rights. Conference sessions are organized into clusters in the diagram below, showing that there is something for any business school leader, professor, and student interested in making a difference. And there are a number of networking events and other experiences available on the platform.

Please join us for the event, November 15-17, even it is just for a few sessions. Individual seats are still available and, of course, it is open to everyone—students, faculty, and staff—at institutions that have registered to participate. Register here if you haven’t already.

For GBSN, Beyond is much more than a virtual conference. We started it last year with two major objectives:

to be more inclusive than we could in our regular face-to-face events and
to actually do things that move the needle on our mission “to improve access to quality, locally relevant management and entrepreneurship education for the developing world”

More than 1,000 people representing more than 100 institutions across nearly 40 countries have already registered to participate in this year’s GBSN Beyond. Participants will come from places like Papua New Guinea and Haiti, as well as Nigeria, China, France, Brazil, and the United States.

Regarding action, GBSN Beyond includes a series of experiences across three tracks. The HUMLOG Challenge sponsored by the Hanken School of Economics brings together student teams to improve community disaster resilience. Learn more about the six finalists here. Our Faculty Micro-Simulation Development Lab with Capsim supports teams of professors working together to build micro-simulations for future classroom use everywhere.

Finally, this year with EFMD we have convened the first-ever Going Beyond Awards to engage business schools in reflecting on their community impact. We are in the final judging stages for each of these tracks and invite everyone to check out all the great submissions and celebrate the winners during the awards ceremony on Wednesday, November 17.

GBSN Beyond is also an opportunity to experiment with new ideas for achieving our mission. This year we worked closely with Universidad de Los Andes for an initiative called Race2Imagine. We connected them with Miami-Herbert Business School, Thunderbird-School of Global Management, and the Geneva School of Economics and Management to convene a three-part series of conversations on health, climate, and human rights, respectively. The conversations featured local impact stories by students and faculty, as well as experts on the subjects. Learn more about Race2Imagine here.

Planning the series of events and experiences of GBSN Beyond takes a lot of work and support. We are thankful for the generous support of our fantastic sponsors and a small army of volunteers, including many experts from around the world who served as coaches and judges in our various challenges. And, I can’t say enough about the fantastic GBSN Team who always go Beyond to assist the whole GBSN community to make a positive difference in society.

Dan LeClair, CEO, Global Business School Network

Dan LeClair was named CEO of the Global Business School Network (GBSN) in February of 2019. Prior to GBSN, Dan was an Executive Vice President at AACSB International, an association and accrediting organization that serves some 1,600 business schools in more than 100 countries. His experience at AACSB includes two and half years as Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, seven years as Chief Operating Officer, and five years as Chief Knowledge Officer.

A founding member of the Responsible Research in Business and Management (RRBM) initiative, Dan currently participates on its working board. He also serves in an advisory capacity to several organizations and startups in business and higher education. Before AACSB, Dan was a tenured associate professor and associate dean at The University of Tampa.

Dan played a lead role in creating a think-tank joint venture between the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and AACSB and has been recognized for pioneering efforts in the formation of the UN’s Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), where he served on the Steering Committee for many years. Dan has also participated in industry-level task forces for a wide range of organizations, including the Chartered Association of Business Schools, Graduate Management Admission Council, Executive MBA Council, and Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program.

Widely recognized as a thought leader in management education, Dan is the author of over 80 research reports, articles, and blogs, and has delivered more than 170 presentations in 30 countries. As a lead spokesperson for reform and innovation in management education, Dan has been frequently cited in a wide range of US and international newspapers, magazines, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, China Daily, Forbes, Fast Company, and The Economist.

Dan earned a PhD from the University of Florida writing on game theory.

Celebrating the Spirit of GBSN Beyond

Posted on September 27, 2021September 27, 2021 by gbsn

Nine years ago I read about a $150 million gift to start an innovation center at Stanford University. What’s special about an innovation center in Silicon Valley? Well, the gift was specifically to alleviate poverty by creating the Stanford Institute for Innovation for Developing Economies. The institute, known as Stanford Seed, would bring together scholars across the campus but would be housed in Stanford Graduate School of Business.

It makes a lot of sense now. After all, the motto of Stanford GSB is “Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world” and Stanford Seed is now a member of the Global Business School Network (GBSN). But the announcement surprised me at the time and had a major influence on my thinking about business schools. In fact, there have been many such moments throughout my career that contributed to my beliefs and, ultimately, influenced my views about the mission and direction of GBSN.

Sometimes it’s about getting an inside view of what business schools do. It has been a privilege in my career to have daily conversations about the amazing work of leading business schools. I recall my first meeting with the leadership team at Hanken School of Economics and learning for the first time about the school’s global leadership in humanitarian logistics and how important that has been during the covid pandemic. In a recent meeting with the leadership team at Leeds University Business School, I could feel the incredible power of inspiring and enabling an academic staff of over 200 people, and connecting them across disciplines within the school and across institution to address global challenges that can enable business to be more sustainable. I was in a conference room in MIT Sloan’s Global Programs office, when an introduction to MIT REAP transformed my thinking about executive and experiential education, illustrating how innovative such approaches can be and how such programs can impact a whole community and not just an individual or organization.

I’ve learned throughout my career by working closely with schools, experiencing their people, culture, and commitment. My first time in Egypt, in the Moataz Al-Alfi Hall on the new campus of the American University in Cairo, I was struck by the importance and depth of cross-sectoral dialogue in the anniversary business forum I participated in. In another context, I recall meeting Michaela Ranken of Monash Business School for the first time because she traveled from Melbourne to Mumbai to voluntarily contribute to our experiential learning workshop for Indian professors. I remember the unbridled enthusiasm of the remarkable student team from Universidad de Los Andes who took the top prize in our first HUMLOG Challenge.

It’s not just the universities and business schools in the higher education ecosystem. I remember hosting a team from Capsim and having a creative discussion about their Inbox product. I learned from the meeting that we need to take steps to teach and enable, with authoring tools for example, professors to build more interactive experiences for learners.

With more than two decades working in business education globally, I could have listed many more examples. But all of the organizations I highlighted have something in common; they are high-level sponsors of GBSN Beyond. Sure, it is one way to say thank you—to demonstrate our appreciation for “Going Beyond” in their contribution to our mission.

These organizations embody the spirit of GBSN Beyond. They reflect the culture and commitment of GBSN to its mission “to improve access to quality, locally-relevant management and entrepreneurship education.” But as the examples illustrate, the organizations not only embody the spirit of GBSN Beyond, they helped to create it. And they live that spirit—part of their sponsorship commitment enables schools from lower income countries to participate in Beyond.

You see, GBSN Beyond is about breaking boundaries, paving new territory for business education. It’s about the work of business schools across sectors—at nexus of business, government and civil society. It’s about being inclusive of a wide range of schools in the Global South as well as Global North. It means connecting globally to make a positive impact locally.

The spirit of GBSN Beyond is embedded in the core experiences we’re providing. From the student HUMLOG Challenge offered with Hanken to the faculty Microsimulation Development Lab with Capsim. You’ll see the spirit written into the criteria for our Going Beyond Awards, which we’re initiating with EFMD. And you’ll see it in the fantastic program featuring a diverse set of leaders from academia and beyond, including organizations such as Visa, Amazon Web Services, and Deutsche Post DHL to name a few, all addressing our core themes related to advancing climate action, health, human rights, and humanitarian logistics, as well as the transformative role of business schools.

Finally, and most importantly, the spirit of GBSN Beyond is embodied by the participants in GBSN. We already have nearly 60 schools from more than 30 countries signed up to engage their students, faculty, and leaders in the core experiences and virtual conference. They are the stars of Beyond, creating new insights and solutions, building bridges across borders and sectors and disciplines.

If GBSN Beyond reflects the purpose and spirit of your school, we would love to have you. Register here. If, like the schools mentioned above, send me a message.

Dan LeClair, CEO

Dan LeClair is CEO of the Global Business School Network (GBSN). Widely recognized as a thought leader in management education, Dan is the author of over 80 research reports, articles, and blogs, and has delivered more than 170 presentations in 30 countries. As a lead spokesperson for reform and innovation in management education, Dan has been frequently cited in a wide range of US and international newspapers, magazines, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, China Daily, Forbes, Fast Company, and The Economist.

Inclusivity and GBSN

Posted on August 24, 2021September 27, 2021 by gbsn

For Otago Business School, it was essential to fully integrate the First Peoples of New Zealand in its new Bachelor of Entrepreneurship (BEntr) program. To deliver on such a promise and others like it, the school has two senior leadership positions, Associate Dean Māori and Associate Dean Pacific, charged with incorporating perspectives in the design and operations of everything the school does. One tangible indicator of their work: the hiring of two Māori professors with responsibilities across the entire BEntr program.

My colleagues, Maddie and Gianluca, and I interviewed the program head, Dr. John Williams, and six other leaders in entrepreneurship education from GBSN Member Schools in Bangladesh, Tunisia, and the United States. We were building an interactive workshop on entrepreneurship education for three universities in Papua New Guinea, which we delivered in partnership with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) earlier this month. The cases we prepared from the interviews, especially the one from Otago, sparked important conversations amongst the participants from Papua New Guinea, partly for their interest in empowering women, as well as indigenous people to be entrepreneurs.

These kind of conversations are natural in the GBSN community, where initiatives like the BEntr program are a high priority. Indeed, inclusion may be the single word that best defines GBSN and the work that it does. It is an active ingredient in the glue that binds our schools together. It is evident in our approach to international development, which is grounded in empowering people more than in transferring solutions. Inclusion is embedded in our mission “to improve access to quality, locally relevant management and entrepreneurship education for the developing world.”

Inclusion also drives our strategic direction, which is about gaining strength and increasing impact through a larger and more diverse network. While all of our members are highly motivated by the GBSN mission—it is why they joined—each brings distinctive strengths to achieving it. At GBSN, we believe online institutions, liberal arts schools, and corporate universities can all play an important role in our mission, complementing the work of more established, classic business schools.

A more diverse network means a more innovative one- and a more powerful one when it comes to collective action.

But the benefits of diversity cannot be achieved without inclusion. It is said that “diversity is getting invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance.” At GBSN we’ve been working hard to ensure our members are connected and actively engaged. We now have programs that involve students in challenging international experiences, faculty in impactful research and development activities, and leaders in fostering for sustainable development—all driven by our core purpose and values. We invite you to visit our website and take a look at the growing number of projects and programs engaging our members.

Start with GBSN Beyond, which we invented to engage a wider range of institutions and people. It is the only major event in the business education industry that involves students, faculty, and leaders in business schools in experiential activities. And it is the only one that explicitly explores the nexus between higher education, business, government, and civil society. We want to draw special attention the Leaders Track featuring entries to the GBSN-EFMD Going Beyond Awards, which is open to all business schools worldwide regardless of whether they are members of GBSN. We are particularly interested in receiving entries and nominations from schools in emerging economies.

At GBSN, we believe it is also our responsibility to help business schools to strengthen their own diversity and inclusion initiatives. But how do you do that with such diverse set of schools that operate in so many different contexts? And how do we do something that actually works, when academic research shows that DEI training programs have not been particularly effective in changing behaviors?

We did extensive research and learned from our experiences globally. By focusing on belonging and helping the staff and faculty to master a simple set of behaviors, we assist schools everywhere to be more inclusive and become stronger, more impactful leaders in the communities they serve. Our custom program, offered in partnership with EPC Learning Labs, is called “FOSTERing Belonging™ in Business Schools” and is available now. Visit the program’s webpage to learn more about what makes it work and contact us about building a program for your school. Our solution for schools bridges the gap between diversity and inclusion by helping the staff and faculty of business schools to foster a stronger sense of belonging for their colleagues and students.

Dan LeClair

CEO

Strengthening Disaster Resilience: The 2021 HUMLOG Challenge

Posted on July 7, 2021July 7, 2021 by gbsn

Thirty days after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, less than 500 damaged roofs had been covered with blue tarp, though an estimated 30,000 installations were needed. The already catastrophic loss was made considerably worse because of the additional damage, including rot and mold, which could have been prevented. In 2020, Puerto Rico was hit again by Hurricane Isaias and had barely escaped Tropical Storm Elsa in the last few days.

A year later, the southern Indian state of Kerala received four months of rain in just two and half months. The devastating floods caused by the rain could have been avoided had dam operators released water at an earlier time when the area was relatively dry. Floods are the most common disaster in India. A study that looked at the 65 years between 1952 and 2018 concluded that “there was not a single year when floods didn’t impact the country with significant losses to lives and property.”

Australia experienced the worst bushfire season on record in 2019-2020. More than 15,000 fires destroyed 11.46 million hectares across the country. The capital area reported an air quality index 23 times higher than what’s considered “hazardous,” creating serious health threats for thousands of vulnerable people. And, according the World Wildlife Fund, nearly three billion animals were killed or displaced.

In February this year, the power grid in the U.S. state of Texas collapsed in the wake of an extraordinary winter storm. That was followed by the failure of its water systems. As many as 4.5 million people were left without power and nearly half the state’s 26 million people were under a boil-water order. People fled the state, risking covid infection. Hotel rates and gas prices spiked.

Think Europe is off the hook? A recent study stated that “Europe’s north will struggle with floods and fires” and the “south will be hammered by drought, urban heat and agricultural decline,” according to this provocative article published in Politico. The list can go on—earthquakes in Turkey and Chile, cyclones and volcanoes in the Philippines, flash floods in Indonesia, droughts across Southern Africa, and so much more.

Major hazards constantly threaten our communities, and climate change and population growth will only accelerate and exacerbate the threats. Yet, as these examples (and the Covid-19 pandemic) show, it is not easy to respond effectively and recover quickly from disasters. It is important to learn from our experiences, identify potential problems in advance, and develop and deploy workable solutions.

That is why this year’s HUMLOG Challenge focuses on Community Disaster Resilience, hosted in partnership with the HUMLOG Institute at the Hanken School of Economics. The main objective is to identify important problems and crowdsource solutions to reduce the potential impact of humanitarian crises, especially on the vulnerable communities who tend to disproportionately be affected by disasters. In the process, The HUMLOG Challenge provides meaningful experiential learning opportunities and global experiences for business school and university students worldwide.

We conducted The HUMLOG Challenge for the first time last year, with 420 students in 113 teams from 38 schools in 21 countries addressing local medical and food supply chain issues. The top three teams offered a water supply solution for La Guajira, Colombia, a covid testing solution in Vienna, Austria, and a PPE shortage solution in Harris County, Texas. This year’s challenge will be even bigger—with more teams representing more countries—and will encourage cross-border collaborations between teams working on similar challenges and engagement in the broader community on the GBSN Localized space. In addition, students that participate in the educational experiences and complete the challenge will be eligible for a GBSN certificate of achievement. And remember, there are much more opportunities offered to students in the Learners Track, one of three tracks offered by GBSN Beyond in October. These three parallel track will lead up to the Virtual Conference November 15-17. Similar to last year, in order to make GBSN Beyond more inclusive and accessible, schools pay one low registration fee for an unlimited number of student teams, faculty participants, and leaders to engage with GBSN Beyond. Early Bird registration is open now. More information can be found at www.gbsn.org/beyond.

Dan LeClair

CEO

Students and GBSN: A Powerful Force for Sustainable Development

Posted on May 19, 2021May 22, 2021 by gbsn

Over the last five weeks, 56 student teams from 32 schools across 15 countries participated in our inaugural Africa Business Concept Challenge, sponsored by Stanford Seed and AACSB and supported by Peaqs, emlyon business school, Localized, and Afrilabs. It wasn’t our first student competition. Last fall 113 teams from 38 schools across 21 countries worked on local medical and food supply chain problems in the Humanitarian Logistics (HUMLOG) Challenge we offered in partnership with Hanken School of Economics.

GBSN student challenges are designed to provide meaningful educational experiences for learners, as well as crowdsource viable solutions to economic and social problems. We believe business students are a powerful force for sustainable development, just like faculty and administrative leaders; and our challenges help them to convert ideas to business opportunities and sharpen their skills at the same time. The challenges complement the experiential learning activities already offered by GBSN business schools and are entirely consistent with our mission “to improve access to quality, locally-relevant management and entrepreneurship education in the developing world.”

We have learned a lot from the student experiences. I can tell you, for example, that the competitions have been difficult to plan and execute, especially given our commitment to international participation and building a robust community of support. In addition to the students, the Africa Challenge also involved local mentors for the teams and an international group of investor experts led by emlyon professor, Rickie Moore. It also included an eight-person international judging panel and seven staff members working across GBSN and two digital platforms.

“I can also tell you that we love working with students. They are enthusiastic, creative, professional, and anxious to develop international relationships.”

My younger staff colleagues have been especially happy with the students and will do anything to empower and support them—to help them to develop, make connections, and make a difference in society. I should note that our student engagement efforts extend beyond business schools, as many of the teams have included of students from other disciplines, such as engineering and technology.

We are leveraging our initial experience to scale and innovate. This year’s HUMLOG Challenge will focus on community disaster resilience, offer opportunities to students to earn a micro-credential, and encourage international collaboration. We are also in early stages of partnership development for additional regional challenges and two major global challenges in 2022 and 2023.

Student Programs

Our student programs go beyond challenges. For GBSN member schools we also provide students with access to career development support through our partnership with Localized, a DC-based company that started with a vision to connect local learners in the MENA region with successful diaspora. We are also building out two programs with our newest corporate member, Deutsche Post DHL, one program for MBA students and one for undergraduate students. We also have plans to engage business students in a range of sustainability-oriented projects, such as developing campaigns that shape the demand for more nutritious and sustainable foods, and effort we’re co-convening with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Although student programs are just one piece of what we do to foster economic and social development, we are excited about the growing portfolio and how well it complements the work we do with faculty and administrative leaders. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like to explore how your students can engage in GBSN’s mission.

Dan LeClair

Full Bio

Business Education and the Inevitable Change

Posted on April 14, 2021April 19, 2021 by gbsn

This editorial was originally published in the Council on Business and Society‘s latest issue of the Global Voice magazine, Walk On, Issue #17.

The Global Voice Magazine

The Council on Business & Society’s quarterly and special issue magazine. The publication features research-based and opinion-piece articles made readable for the student, practitioner and instructor on business and society, management and leadership, sustainability, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, CSR, green finance and social and environmental reporting.

Just like in business, in business education the winds of change are always blowing. Unlike business, however, these winds usually seem to pass without significantly impacting the industry. In recent years, however, the pressures have been mounting. And the Covid-19 pandemic has spread the view that profound change is inevitable.

What fate awaits incumbent business schools in this future? Broadly speaking, there are two different scenarios. The first one involves a massive disruption, in which the bulk of traditional business schools are rendered obsolete by new kinds of providers, which bring specialized, up-to-date knowledge at much lower costs and with a global reach. In one version of this scenario, degrees are broken down into micro-certifications, customized to particular job profiles and employers’ expectations. The other, less dramatic, scenario echoes the famous line in Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s. The Leopard, “If we want everything to stay as it is, everything has to change.”

Business schools will keep up with the times and survive with some minor adaptations, like drafting new missions, doing some nice seminars, and perhaps launching some well-intentioned programs. In the end, incumbent business schools will occupy a shrinking portion of the growing market for management education and development.

We believe both scenarios are unlikely for two reasons. The first reason is the business school model itself, which is a curious combination of academic rigor and business flexibility. Many people think that a commitment to scholarly values and the ability to adapt are incompatible, and thus the former represents the greatest weakness of business schools in a changing world. Yet, this model has stood the test of time. Only business schools have managed to articulate research (i.e. the search for truth) with education (i.e. the dissemination of truth). No other organization attempts this delicate balance, nor has the capacity or incentive to do so.

Even while sticking to their scholarly roots, business schools have been remarkably adaptable over time. They have reinvented programs, pioneered pedagogies, invested in enabling technologies, built value-creating collaborations, and developed new markets. The wide variety of circumstances faced by schools, have given rise to a remarkably diverse set of opportunities and responses. Every school has its own situation, its own set of resources, its own challenges. And each school must find its own way. The second reason why the both scenarios are unlikely is that education technology is not the only driver of change, or even the most important one. We believe instead that the most significant development in business education is on the demand side. Simply put, the world is expecting more from business schools—to go beyond business to help address the most complex, important challenges of society. There are mounting social pressures for business schools to create more positive social impact, locally, regionally, and globally.

At the same time business schools embrace the incredible opportunities, they must also address the challenges. Making a bigger difference in society will require profound changes across many dimensions, including curriculum foundations, faculty disciplines, program offerings, community engagement activities, funding mechanisms, and faculty models. To be clear, we see academic independence and rigor as key strengths for business schools in this transformation, but the methods and metrics must evolve to align with the shifting purpose. In this context, technology is viewed more as enabler than a disruptor. It provides new tools for improving research, personalizing education, simulating practice, and more. It steers and supports the industry towards collaboration.

Business schools will leverage their core strengths and working with each other, and with online providers and other players, such a consulting companies, to serve new markets, especially in the continuing education space. Other parts of the business education ecosystem, such as rankings, assessments, and accreditation, will also change in order to support business schools in their new role.
In the end, we believe this is indeed a pivotal moment in the history of business education. But it is hardly the end of business schools. It is the rebirth of business schools, nay each business school, in the context of society.

Download Global Voice Magazine, Walk on, Issue #17

Dan LeClair is the CEO of the Global Business School Network. Prior to GBSN, Dan was an Executive Vice President at AACSB International. Widely recognized as a thought leader in management education, Dan is the author of over 80 research reports, articles, and blogs, and has delivered more than 170 presentations in 30 countries.

Adrian Zicari is a Professor in CSR & Performance at ESSEC Business School; Executive Director at the Council on Business and Society and Honorary representative for Buenos Aires city in Paris. My Google Scholar: http://bit.do/eTkWi

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

Posted on March 3, 2021March 8, 2021 by gbsn

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 as dragging heavy hoses, breaking through barriers, and transporting injured people to safety. The show illustrates them struggling to succeed at these tests. In the foreground male firefighters emphasized how important it is to trust the capabilities of their colleagues, especially in the field.

I remember thinking it wasn’t surprising that women were not performing well in these tests. But in my mind, it was not because they were less capable than their male counterparts. It was because firefighting was designed for men, by men. Confession, I was also reacting emotionally to what I perceived as a smug attitude amongst the male interviewees. I stayed awake that night imagining the tools, techniques and strategies that would have probably been invented if women were included from the start. It is quite likely, I concluded, that we would be much more effective at fighting fires and, probably better at preventing them. From that brief experience, I began to comprehend the vast potential that has gone unrealized due to exclusion.

It has been decades since that episode aired and a lot is different about our world today. Unfortunately, the last time I checked, only 4-6% of firefighters in the U.S. are women. More generally and globally, data suggest that progress has been slow. In 2020 (before the pandemic), women made up less than 39% of the total global labor force. It was nearly 40% a decade ago. See this World Bank chart and take a close look at India’s chart while you’re there.

There has been some progress in business. This Grant Thorton Report shows the proportion of women in senior management globally grew from 22% in 2015 to 29% in 2020. And I’ve been excited about the increasing attention that business schools are giving to women. Many GBSN member schools have been purposeful about increasing the proportion of women in their programs, on their faculties and leadership teams, and on their boards. They’ve also made extra efforts to target women in outreach programs for the broader community, such as programs specifically for women business leaders. Thanks to my colleagues Maddie Handler and Emma Martens, a linked list of some GBSN member initiatives designed to support gender balance is included at the end of this blog.

Increasing access to leadership, management, and entrepreneurship education is helpful. But business schools must continue challenging themselves to go further.

“Achieving our full potential in society requires not only enabling women to equally participate and succeed within the current system, but also doing everything we can to change the system.”

First, we need business scholars to generate new insights to improve relevant management practices. To accomplish this, faculty must do research that is useful as well as credible. We must look forward, as well as backwards, to build new policies, processes, and practices that reduce discrimination and bias. We must think beyond business to consider societal challenges. Doing these things will not be easy, given current research models and incentive systems. Management is complicated and contextual, and it is dynamic. So academic scholars must get closer to practice to understand it better and keep up with changes.

There are many gender-related research streams that are interesting. There is the ongoing question of whether the introduction of “blind” auditions (using screens to conceal gender) contributed to a significant increase—from 6% in 1970 to 21% in 1993—in the proportion of women in top orchestras. Similar studies ask questions about whether making job applications “blind” would increase the percentage of women who make it through the first selection round. I’ve been tracking research on whether simply emphasizing the traits of excluded groups, such as women, over “prototypical” traits for some professions can have a positive impact on outcomes. Check out this promising research brief on balancing the prototypes for firefighters.

Second, business schools must think critically about their own content and processes and whether they actually perpetuate discrimination and bias. Even when confronted by new evidence, underlying concepts and cultures can carry on for a long time without purposeful intervention. A head recruiter for a top consulting company once told me that female candidates were scoring significantly lower on the math assessment than men. Their investigation finally revealed that at several feeder schools, students did most of their work in teams. It turns out women often selected (or were pushed or influenced) into less quantitative roles.

Business school leaders should continuously work to develop new inclusive programs and frame the management problems that scholars should address. They should also should look carefully at the school’s curricula to figure what should be modified or discontinued (rather than “cancelled”). To provide one example, GBSN is collaborating with the Women’s Economic Imperative to help pilot a promising initiative called “Gender-Smart Entrepreneurship Education & Training” (GEET+), which “can be used by instructors and trainers to assess the status of equity, diversity, and inclusion within entrepreneurship courses and programs.” We invite you to join us for a virtual roundtable on 23 March, 2021, that will showcase the multi-country project that mobilizes evidence-based insights in the development of entrepreneurship education and training as drivers of economic empowerment of girls, women and other disadvantaged groups. The GEET+ is the work of Telfer School of Management’s Professor Barbara Orser and Dr. Catherine Elliott. The tool has been selectively applied in Canada and the United States. Led by the Women’s Economic Imperative (WEI) and funded by the International Development Research Centre (Canada), the pilot project is being launched in Peru, Mexico, Kenya, and Nigeria.

March 8^th is International Women’s Day, a day dedicated to celebrating women’s achievement and taking action for equality. This year’s theme is #ChooseToChallenge. A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change. Let’s all continue to challenge and facilitate change.

What are GBSN Members doing to challenge and facilitate change?

HKUST — leading institution in gender balance performance, including highest percentage of female faculty (according to the Financial Times)
MIT Sloan — has resource page dedicated to supporting women across MIT by offering resources, tools, communities, etc.
INSEAD — Delivers an online gender diversity program, as well as a publication and event page
University of Maryland– EMBA gender parity. 54% of the students in the 2021 cohort are women
HEC Paris — Hosted an executive women’s leadership program in partnership with Yale, in December of last year
IESE Business School — Women in the MBA program and club; provides resources such as blogs, events, and advice for women at IESE
Tuck — Women in business club that attends the WIBC every year
Nanyang Business School — MBA student recently founded the school’s first women in business club
Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO — offers a Women Leadership Award for female candidates who demonstrate excellent leadership track record. The aim of the award is to support female candidates of merit and to help increase the number of women participating in the Executive MBA program
Strathmore Business School — Launching a Women in Leadership Program to be hosted in June
Wits Business School — Delivers course on Gender Identity in Leadership
University of Stellenbosch Business School — USB nominated to host the Gender, Work, and Organization conference in 2023
American University of Beirut — they are part of a program called FREE: Female Academic Role Model Empowerment, Equality and Sustainability at Universities in Mediterranean Region
Lagos Business School— In May 2021, the school is delivering a women in leadership workshop
Qatar University College of Business and Economics — Offers a mentoring program for Qatari women to engage in action-oriented entrepreneurial activities
CENTRUM Catolica Graduate Business School — Hosting a women’s CEO Program in 2021
University of Otago — Provides a gender studies program for all students no matter the background and is credited to other degree programs
Nova School of Business and Economics — Recognized by the UN for their work with SDG #5

The Forte Foundation has recognized many GBSN member schools as exceptional programs for women: Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, GW, IE, IESE, INSEAD, MIT, Michigan State, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, University of Michigan

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

Posted on February 6, 2021February 8, 2021 by gbsn

It’s not as if the world was on track to achieve the SDGs by 2030. Of the 38 targets assessed in 2019, 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.

And business schools have been busy. For the last year, their leaders and faculties have been working hard and fast to ensure safety and continuity in learning and research activities, and inventing new models for just about everything, including student recruitment, instructional delivery, experiential education, faculty development, and more. The professors I know have never been more stretched; the deans I know have never been more stressed.

So, how can business schools accelerate progress on the SDGs right now, even while dealing COVID-19? Here are five suggestions.

1. Prioritize social impact and responsibility when supporting local business.

Many business schools have stepped up to help local businesses to navigate the crisis and become more resilient. Like IE University’s Center for Social Innovation and Sustainability, which has committed to assisting 70 small business in Madrid to develop digital strategies, business schools are doing their part to save jobs and help economies bounce back. Almost any kind of business needs help now, but what if we prioritized organizations by their potential for societal impact and helped selected businesses to develop more inclusive and sustainable business practices? I think we would accelerate progress on the SDGs. Indeed, I believe local initiative is as important as global leadership to achieve the Global Goals.

2. Align student experiences towards sustainable development.

The Gies College of Business has committed to doubling the number of students participating in experiential learning each year. Despite the pandemic, other business schools have been doing the same—requiring more project-based learning, internships, and apprenticeships. The activities have moved online and become shorter, but students are doing more. They are doing work that matters in practice, and we can and should orient that works towards sustainability. We don’t necessarily have to give up the other experiences, such as writing a social media plan, modeling a business process, or coding a chat bot. It might just mean engaging different kinds of organizations, such as non-profits and social enterprises, and asking different questions during the process. Our creative, purpose-driven students are a tremendous resource. Why not deploy them towards the SDGs.

3. Take the lead role with data and information.

Early in the pandemic, the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics (a collaboration between Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics, and University of Helsinki) served the community well by opening the Covid-19 Situation Room “to support fast decision making amid the coronavirus crisis.” The pandemic and other events, such as the U.S. presidential election, have drawn serious attention to limitations and problems related to data and information. Experts say that the absence of good data and relevant metrics has hindered progress on the Global Goals and I believe business schools have a huge opportunity to take a lead role. I’m excited, for example, about the Aggregate Confusion Project at MIT Sloan, which is a program of research “to improve the quality of ESG measurement and decision making in the financial sector” and the “biodiversity accounting” initiative at the University of Otago Business School, which will to help companies recognize and quantify the environmental impact of an their operations.

4. Bring together different perspectives.

Covid has demonstrated how connected everything is—across borders, sectors, and disciplines. It’s not just about global health, it is an economic crisis, logistics challenge, racial justice problem, and more. Similarly, the SDGs are not defined by silos and are, by design, not the responsibility solely of government. Indeed, the kind of innovation we need for the SDGs will happen mostly at the intersection of different perspectives. Business schools have an opportunity to reach beyond business and convene across sectors and disciplines, as well as across industries and borders. Last fall, I was impressed by the breadth of perspectives convened for the Victoria Form led by the Gustavson School of Business. For its part, GBSN has created the Talent for Africa Forum with Ecobank Academy.

5. Capture new insights for responsible education.

We are in the middle of an incredible learning moment. Covid has produced many experiments and, in some ways, is demonstrating that large scale systemic transformation is possible. Yet, I’m consistently surprised by the shortness of our memories and inability to learn from mistakes. Every business school can act now to capture insights in the form of new curriculum content—cases, simulations, problem sets, and more—for the future we are building. We want to translate current experiences into the lessons for sustainable development, and #buildbackbetter. To give just one example, I learned recently about a case compendium being developed by the Berkeley Haas Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership (EGAL) that “includes case studies with diverse protagonists and case studies that build ‘equity fluency’ by focusing on DEI-related issues and opportunities.”

Since 2003, GBSN members have led efforts to build management education capacity in and for the developing world. That is, we were built for SDG4. Our work has enabled the development of leadership, management, and entrepreneurship skills for economic and social development.

“Now we also believe that business schools contribute more directly to achieving other SDGs. In addition to building education capacity, we do projects and programs that engage business schools—their students, faculty, and leaders—in activities the can improve health, create more inclusive societies, fight climate change, build sustainable cities, and more. “

By connecting business schools to business, government and civil society we are making a difference now, not just by educating students for the future and publishing articles in journals. Check out the GBSN network, what we do (programs, projects, thought leadership), and who we engage (students, faculty, administrators).

GBSN Highlights from 2020 and Looking Ahead to 2021

Posted on December 7, 2020December 9, 2020 by gbsn

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 – The Future of the Business School” by Andrew Crisp co-founder of CarringtonCrisp, and an enlightening visioning exercise led by Sanjeev Khagram, Director General and Dean at Thunderbird School of Global Management.

The Annual Members Meeting also provides a moment to reflect on the work of GBSN and look forward. One of my colleagues, Nicole Zefran, and I took a little time to speak about highlights from current year and plans as we move into the next one. We would prefer to look further ahead, perhaps 3-5 years, but nowadays that seems like an especially long time. This blog summarizes our presentation.

Our presentation was framed by GBSN’s strategic direction, which we introduced at last year’s meeting hosted by Nova SBE on their spectacular campus overlooking the sea in Carcavelos, Portugal. In short, we are building on GBSN’s extraordinary history as a “project-driven development organization” to become a “purpose-driven network organization.” Four sets of initiatives are driving this transformation.

Strengthening the network through size, diversity, and connectivity

The network is our most valuable asset and we have and will continue to invest in developing it. Network strength comes partly from size and we are excited about the growing interest worldwide in joining the GBSN community to pursue its mission. In addition to size, strength also comes from diversity. This year’s additions to GBSN come from India, France, China, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, Colombia, Ghana, Morocco, Malaysia, and the United States.

There were many firsts in the group, including first members from Japan (NUCB Business School) and Malaysia (Asia School of Business), and our first corporate member (Ecobank Academy). Three of the new member schools are relatively young and will work together with our support to accelerate development. Finally, we are excited about engaging the US-based Western Governors University to learn from their pioneering work in competency-based learning.

A large family doesn’t have much power if nobody talks to each other. Likewise, to achieve our vision we must continuously expand and reinforce the connections between schools and people in the network. Our objective is a network that connects together like Velcro, with multiple hooks and loops between organizations. This year we launched our member portal to support member interactions with each other and with GBSN. While we have long way to go, these efforts are off to a great start.

2. Building programs that engage students, faculty, and administrative leaders

A strong network offers (and is reinforced by) programs that engage members—their students, faculty, and administrative leaders. For GBSN, these programs are designed to simultaneously create learning and positively impact our society in line with our mission. That is, our programs should be engaging experiences, relevant to sustainable development, and impactful.

This year, for example, we offered our first international student team competition. We built the HUMLOG Challenge with the Hanken School of Economics’ Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Research Institute. More than 400 students formed 120 teams representing schools that span six continents registered to consider local medical or food supply chain problems and offer feasible solutions. The winning team offered a water supply chain solution in La Guajira, Colombia and represents Universidad de Los Andes School of Management. The second place team came from WU – Vienna University of Economics and Business in Austria and the third place team came from the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston.

The initial experience was so successful that we are working on our next competition. It will focus on Africa and be offered in partnership with Peaqs, an innovative learning platform that combines a project development process with a virtual stock market engine for peer feedback. Please let us know if your school is interested in being involved and supportive. Also in 2021, we are working on plans to supplement the experiential learning programs of member schools through partnerships with a couple of very large international companies. More on these programs to come.

For faculty, this year we’re completing our first experience with a small grant program initiative. GBSN and the SWIFT Institute partnered to support the development of three case studies looking at cybersecurity and wholesale banking in emerging economies. A team from Chandaria School of Business at United States International University in Kenya won the grant and have submitted the final cases. We also ran our first Faculty Simulation Lab in partnership with Capsim to develop regionally-relevant microsimulations to drive meaningful education in the developing world. Congratulations to the team form Ashesi University in Ghana for winning first prize for their simulation on “Ethics in International Mining.”

This year we launched Cross-Border Collabs for administrative leaders at GBSN member institutions. The meetings happen on the first Thursday of every month. The idea is to bring our community together on specific topics and, most importantly, create opportunities for leaders to connect with peers globally. We are currently building the agenda for 2021 and, as always, will curate the most important topics through conversations with members.

Collabs work hand-in-hand with our learning communities. This year we quietly piloted this initiative with help from Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) to build a community of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence programs, starting with schools in the US, Brazil, Ghana, Egypt, and India, as well as the UK. The objectives are to exchange best practices, share resources, and facilitate collective action for sustainable development. Interest in forming learning communities is already growing, with new ones emerging in human rights, sustainable energy, healthcare, and community-engaged learning.

3. Becoming a thought leader for role of business schools in sustainable development

To achieve its mission, GBSN must assert a thought leadership role as it relates to inclusive and sustainable development. This means helping business schools to find their way in a changing environment while expanding their positive impact on society, especially in emerging economies. This year, GBSN took a big step in that direction by being quick to introduce a webinar series to help schools to cope with COVID-19. For example, our webinar series on the subject generated more than 3000 participants in April and May, 2020. And our continuing interview series on the World After Covid has generated many useful insights for schools.

In conjunction with leaders track of GBSN Beyond and with valuable support from GMAC® and CarringtonCrisp, we ran leadership roundtables on the future of experiential learning (led by Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Asia School of Business, UNC Kenan Flagler, University of Illinois, MIT Sloan, and George Washington University), role of business schools in building more inclusive societies (led by Fundação Dom Cabral and University of Stellenbosch), and entrepreneurship ecosystems and business schools (led by INSEAD and MIT Sloan). The final reports are now available to the public.

GBSN was also pleased to contribute to “The Case for Human Rights in Business Education—A Tool Kit” and encourage business schools everywhere to consider adopting its recommendations. Look for GBSN to continue supporting this initiative being led by the Centers for Business and Human Rights at NYU Stern and at the Geneva School Economics and Management.

In the first quarter of 2021, GBSN and Ecobank Academy will convene the Talent for Africa Forum. In this unique, virtual forum, speakers will focus on the future that Africa wants and the power of its people to achieve it. The Forum highlights the importance of leadership, management, and entrepreneurship across sectors and across the continent, and aims to explore the challenges of building education and development capacity and aligning it with the needs of a rapidly changing continent.

4. Expanding our project work

Prior to 2019 we achieved our mission primarily through project work, which typically involves external funding over a finite horizon to build management education capacity, expand education to underserved communities, and the like. These projects were challenging and impactful, and we did many of them over the years with help from a network of the best business schools in the world. By strengthening that network, especially the multi-sectoral partners, we have been increasing our capacity to do such projects. We have three projects in the works for 2021.

First, we initiated a project to build a mobile (smart phone) version of the highly-successful Management Development Institute (MDI) program supported by Johnson & Johnson, which has provided leadership and management residential training for front-line health care workers since 2006. The main objectives of the project are to build on the legacy of MDI, while expanding access to it for nurses and midwives and increasing its relevance to national health plans as well as learners. Ongoing MDI trainings would thus be more accessible, resilient, and adaptable to evolving national health plans. Potential partners for this project include the World Continuing Education Alliance, Amref, Lagos Business School, Groupe ISM, University of Cape Town, and Nova SBE.

Second, we have been mapping out a collaboration with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) on a project to improve understanding of how corporate anti-corruption training impacts companies that implement anti-corruption initiatives, to harness the research of business schools around the globe in developing anti-corruption programs, and to provide feedback that will refine CIPE’s anti-corruption program design and development.

Finally, GBSN has been working on an initiative with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to convene stakeholders across sectors to drive action in the enabling environment—one that delivers the vision of people globally desiring and choosing nutritious and sustainable foods.

In our report, we also talked about and introduced the hard-working, dedicated staff team and spent some time unpacking GBSN Beyond, our hugely successful reimagination of our annual global conference. The event proved to be a great platform to introduce several of the initiatives described above. Overall, we have continued to move forward methodically with our transformation and increasing the positive impact of our network.

Needless to say, 2020 has been a challenging year everywhere. Throughout the pandemic, however, I have seen business schools step up to support their communities, innovate to solve seemingly intractable problems, take a lead role in providing credible information, and more. We are especially proud of our member schools for continuing to put in the time and energy to make a difference in and for the developing world. We have been proud to amplify that difference. Serving the GBSN community and working with such a dedicated team has been an honor and pleasure for me personally. It has been hard work, as it should be. But at the moment there is no place I’d rather be. We have so much good to do together. I’m looking forward to 2021.

Learning from the Leadership Roundtables at #GBSNBeyond

Posted on November 4, 2020November 5, 2020 by gbsn

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