GBSN CEO

Redefining the Boundaries of Business Education

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Boundaries are everywhere in business education. They inform business scholars about which journals they are supposed to publish in for tenure and promotion. Boundaries help us to neatly organize degree programs into categories, such as MBAs and specialized masters, based on objective criteria. Boundaries can be physical; it is not uncommon for university-based business schools to be physically separated from the main campus.

At AACSB, where I worked for 19 years, determining the “scope of review” (what’s included and not) is the first step in the accreditation process. It makes sense. Before beginning the accreditation journey, we have to decide what to evaluate and the unit to which accreditation applies. And because all business programs at the institution, regardless of whether they are in “the business school,” are included by default, this gives business school deans extraordinary power to keep business and management programs from springing up in other parts of the institution. This boundary-setting leverage has always been part of the value proposition for AACSB accreditation. 

But the environment has changed. Our traditional boundaries have become less helpful. They supported a focus on quality improvement, but are hindering efforts for impact leadership. Quality is about rules and rubrics. Impact is about creativity and collaboration.

It is time to lift our aspirations in business education. Instead of addressing business problems in the context of society, we should address societal problems in the context of business. We must take down the walls between disciplines and between academia and practice. We should embrace diversity and take a lead role in building interdisciplinary teams to address societal challenges. In schools we should engage in collective actions for common good, as much as competitive ones for individual benefit.

About five years ago, I proposed “breaking the rules” as the theme for a large gathering of deans. My suggestion was rightfully rejected since business schools were being questioned about their efforts to build ethical organizations and leaders. But the basic idea has only come into sharper focus. It is reflected in our work at the Global Business School Network. For example, GBSN Beyond—a value-creating reimagination of our flagship annual conference—is breaking boundaries by inviting business students and faculty as well as administrators to participate. 

The first line in the description of GBSN Beyond is:

Motivated to address the most pressing needs of society and enabled by digital innovation, business schools have been redefining the boundaries of their work.

It is time to celebrate and support the pioneers, non-conformists, and boundary spanners who are breaking the rules and pushing out the boundaries of business education. The new boundaries won’t be rigid; they will be fluid and ever changing, reflecting the dynamic world that business schools serve. 

That’s why we’ve been encouraging students to form interdisciplinary teams in our humanitarian logistics (HUMLOG) challenge. It’s why the whole university is invited to participate when the business school registers for GBSN Beyond. It is why we are running roundtables on building inclusive societies and entrepreneurial ecosystems and not just on fundraising and differentiating MBA programs. It is why we’re addressing climate change and inequality in our keynote sessions. 

Already more than 1,000 students, faculty, and leaders from over 80 leading business schools and 40 countries have registered to join us for GBSN Beyond. And the numbers are growing as we experience, connect, and learn through roundtables, workshops, competitions, and more, all leading up to the culminating virtual conference from November 9th through the 13th. 

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.

Building Beyond @GBSNonline

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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.

Dan LeClair is the Chief Executive Officer at the Global Business School Network. 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.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn and Twitter @drleclair

Transforming Into a Purpose-Driven Network

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July was a big month for the Global Business School Network (GBSN). With leadership from the Board of Directors and network, and the hard work of the team, we achieved five milestones in our transformation to a “purpose-driven network organization” and efforts to significantly scale our impact.

Transitioned to a new website

Quietly, we switched over our new website over a weekend in July. Although we didn’t make a public announcement about it, the new website reflects an important change in GBSN, one that has been chronicled on this blog in the 16 months since I joined the team. See, for example, GBSN’s Strategic Direction posted in December, 2019.

The new website adds the last year to our story. It now describes a powerful purpose-driven network built on a 17-year history of impact. To be sure, GBSN remains true to its original vision “for the developing world to have the management talent it needs to generate prosperity” which it pursues by “improving access to quality, locally relevant management and entrepreneurship education.” The new website also highlights an organization that fosters collective action for the public good, with the network of business schools working together and with business, government, and civil society. And it is provides a platform for our growing efforts to engage faculty and students as well as business school leaders directly in our mission.

Welcomed our first corporate member

We welcomed our first corporate member, Ecobank Academy, with a live video conversation. Please read about this exciting development in a separate blog post with Simon Rey, Head of Ecobank Academy and Group Head: Talent, Learning and Organizational Development. Our aim is to work together over the long term to build a stronger connection between business and business schools in developing the talent needed to build the inclusive and sustainable Africa that Africans want.

Over the last year, we have focused on international diversity in our network, increasing the number of countries our members represent from 39 to 50. Moving forward, look for GBSN to continue growing not only by engaging more business schools in more countries, but also by connecting with more corporate academies, pioneers in digital education, and agile startups in the education ecosystem. Our network strength will come as much from diversity as size. And it will come from its connectivity.

Opened the GBSN Member Portal

On the new website, you’ll notice a “login” link in the top right corner. It provides entry to the GBSN Member Portal. The portal serves as the platform for network participants to manage their work with GBSN. More importantly, it connects the people, the leaders in our expanding network, together. A more connected network means a more powerful one, and the portal will be essential for that reason. Specifically, it will support the development of GBSN Learning Communities, as well as the expansion of Steering Committees and other collaborative initiatives related to our mission.

Launched GBSN’s first Learning Community

In a partnership with Lancaster University Management School (LUMS), we started an Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Learning Community. The first meeting included six leading GBSN member schools from six countries: Ghana, India, Brazil, UK, Egypt, and the USA. The group is now expanding to include schools from Nigeria, China, Lebanon, as well as two startup hubs in the US. The community has three objectives, which are to support peer-to-peer development of entrepreneurs-in-residence programs, share resources across ecosystems, and work collectively to impact our communities, especially through social innovation and empowerment.  We’re excited about the pipeline of additional learning communities already lining up to come online at GBSN.

Announced GBSN Beyond: Virtual Conference Reimagined

We started July by announcing GBSN Beyond during our monthly Cross-Border Collab meeting of members. This week, we opened registration. Reimagining our flagship annual conference, GBSN Beyond includes three tracks, involving business students, faculty, and administrators. Each of the tracks has a core experience and a series of workshops and webinars. For students, in a partnership with Hankan School of Economics we are offering our first international team competition as the core experience. In addition, we will offer a series of career development and learning workshops.

For the faculty core experience, we are partnering with Capsim to engage faculty in a learning lab to develop a series of micro-simulations focusing on management situations in emerging economies, with protagonists also addressing cross-cultural challenges and sustainability issues. Additional workshops are designed to help faculty develop new teaching and research skills.

For administrative leaders in business schools, we are convening three roundtable discussions covering the future of experiential learning, the role of business schools in building more inclusive societies, and the future of globalization in business education—each with fantastic business school partners. We are also offering a leadership development experience and other professional development workshops for administrators.

The tracks culminate in a virtual event, November 9-13, 2020, in which faculty can vote on presentations by finalists in the student competition. Likewise, student participants become the first to use the micro-simulations. And we release three roundtable reports with some fanfare. The students, faculty, and administrative leaders will be brought together by inspiring keynotes, forward-looking panel discussions, and more.

Learn more and register to participate in GBSN Beyond by going to https://gbsn.org/conference/gbsn-beyond/.

Dan LeClair is the Chief Executive Officer at the Global Business School Network. 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.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn and Twitter @drleclair

Why A Corporate University Is Invited to Join the Global Business School Network

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Since its beginning in 1985, Ecobank has been committed to the economic development across the African continent. The Bank’s commitment is reflected in the culture of its workforce of over,  14,000 people serving more than 23 million customers across 35 countries in Africa and 4 outside the continent. Developing the capabilities of these people has been the responsibility of Ecobank Academy, making it one of the largest corporate universities in Africa. 

For 17 years, the Global Business School Network has been building management education capacity in and for the developing world. The core of GBSN is more than 100 leading business schools from 50 countries, with their leaders, faculty, and students engaging in programs to “improve access to quality, locally relevant management and entrepreneurship education for the developing world.”

Based on that brief introduction it is already easy to see the potential for collaboration between Ecobank and GBSN. Indeed, the two organizations have connected in the past, though small ways and passing ways. 

We are excited to announce that Ecobank Academy has joined the Global Business School Network (GBSN) to pursue our shared vision for Africa to have the talent it needs to generate prosperity. Our aim is to work together over the long term to build a stronger connection between business and business schools—to develop the talent to achieve the Africa we want. 

This vision began to crystalize last November when Simon delivered a keynote at the GBSN Annual Conference in Lisbon. He pointed out that Africa has only 740 universities for more than 1 billion people and offered, by way of comparison, that the United States has some 5,300 universities and colleges serving a population of 323 million people. He led a conversation amongst the 170 participants from 148 institutions across 46 countries. The dialogue exposed many of the challenges and opportunities of educating and developing talent for Africa. 

The consensus was that no single sector—business, government, education, or non-profit—can make meaningful progress alone, especially in such an incredibly diverse, fast growing, and dynamic environment as Africa.

We posited that widening gap between higher education and business is an obstacle to building the future that Africa wants. And the pace of change in business has been accelerating. That space between education and practice holds the greatest potential for innovative solutions.

The addition of Ecobank Academy to the Global Business School Network is a first step towards closing the gap. In addition to strengthening collaboration between business and academia, we believe that our joint efforts will result in more relevant and scalable educational programs for young people, innovative initiatives for upskilling and reskilling over a lifetime, and collective efforts to build more inclusive and sustainable business across Africa. Our aim is to build alliances where structured designs can fill needed capabilities to address opportunities such as financial inclusion, health, renewable energy, health, nutrition, innovation, and more.  

One of the ways we intend to initiate our work together is by building a virtual forum to explore the changing talent needs of the continent. The series is focused on the future that Africa wants, and the power of its people to achieve it. It highlights the importance of leadership, management, and entrepreneurship across sectors and across the continent. The aims are to explore the challenges associated with building education and development capacity and aligning it with the needs of a rapidly changing continent. The conversations in the forum will reveal new opportunities for innovation and collaboration, especially across business and business schools.

While the sessions are about building the capabilities of Africans, the series is intentionally global in three ways. First, Africa invites the leaders from all over the world to participate meaningfully in its development by co-creating solutions. After all, connecting globally to make a difference locally has been GBSN’s role for nearly two decades. Second, Africa plays a pivotal role in the future of the global society and the planet—economically and politically. Part of our work together is to assist Africa to assert its rightful place in the world. Third, Africa is an inspiration and catalyst for innovation and change around the world. The rest of the world can learn from what Africa does.

While specific topics vary across the sessions in the forum, there are several underlying themes. First is the importance of a Pan-African approach and solution to intercontinental areas. Economic integration and international cooperation are essential, especially at it relates to the mobility of workers, learners, and ideas. Second, technology plays a central role. It is the primary driver of change and it is the biggest enabler for organizations and society to respond to these changes. Technology has played an important role in the development of Ecobank and will in turn play an important role in GBSN. Third, markets alone cannot achieve Africa’s agenda—market failures can and do exist and government involvement and support are necessary.

We are proud to take this first bold step and excited about working together. We invite business schools and companies, especially their learning and development units, to join us in the Global Business School Network. We will gain strength through greater diversity and connectivity, as well as size—and significantly increase our impact on the future of Africa and other developing areas.

Getting Behind GBSN Beyond

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Today, we enthusiastically announced GBSN Beyond. Rather than tell you immediately what that is, I would like to share the story of its development, taking you behind the scenes at the Global Business School Network. You’ll then find a link to follow at the end of this article.

The GBSN Annual Conference is our flagship event. Last year’s conference, hosted by Nova School of Business and Economics in Portugal, attracted the largest number of participants and delivered some of the most inspiring sessions in GBSN Annual Conference history. The next one, our 15th, was set for November in Miami, Florida, in the United States. We have been working closely with Miami Herbert Business School, which has been a supportive host.

In the early days of coronavirus, March and April, we were hopeful and wanted to believe that it would pass soon enough for us to stay with the original plan. Unfortunately, the month of May brought serious questions and June saw the situation worsen in the United States and several other countries, even while it improved in others. We became certain that COVID-19 will prevent us from holding the event we all anticipated.

At the time, we became convinced that, by November, few people would be enthusiastic about another virtual conference that merely replicates a face-to-face event. So we started to imagine new and different possibilities and have conversations with GBSN members and partners. Two opportunities became clear.

First, we wanted to be more inclusive by engaging business students and faculty, in addition to business school leaders. We asked ourselves, what if every business school leader could bring faculty members, student teams, and administrative colleagues to the international conference. By reimagining the conference, we wondered whether we could involve a larger, more diverse set of schools, especially from developing and emerging countries—schools that might find it too expensive to send even one person to Miami.

Second, we began to believe that we could actually accomplish much more than we normally do at a face-to-face event—that we could actually “move the needle” on the mission by working together to solve challenging problems, develop new skills, and invent innovative programs. By reimagining the conference, perhaps we could create a platform to accelerate the development of new programs.

We set out to find ways of achieving the two objectives and generated the vision that ultimately became GBSN Beyond. Perhaps we’ve piqued your curiosity by now. But wait, just a few more paragraphs before clicking ahead.

In the journey to creating GBSN Beyond, we learned a lot about some of the current challenges schools are facing. It has been impossible to provide some of the international experiences that students of business need and want. It has been hard to look ahead and plan for the future. But it has also been hard financially. As a consequence, we introduced a third objective and that is to appreciate, in everything that we do, that these are challenging times for business schools and universities.

For one person to travel for an international conference is already expensive when you consider air travel and lodging in addition to registration fees. Now, imagine what it would cost to bring your administrative colleagues, faculty leaders, and student teams to your next international conference. So, in the spirit of accessibility and inclusivity, we are introducing an institutional rate which allows an unlimited number of persons (students, faculty, and administrators) per institution to register and participate.

We have already generated a lot of support from key partners such as Capsim, Hanken School of Economics, MIT Sloan Global Programs, and Monash Business School. And we have dearly appreciated the support of Miami Herbert Business School in making the transition. Our Board of Directors is excited, as is the Annual Conference Steering Committee.

I hope this short account has piqued your interest about getting involved with GBSN Beyond. I also hope that it has revealed a little bit about who we are and what we value as an organization. It has been hard to hold back my excitement and desire to tell you more. Now that you’ve heard the inside story, we encourage you to visit www.gbsn.org/beyond and get behind GBSN Beyond. Sign up to receive more information about GBSN Beyond and contribute to its development—and, most of all, bring your whole school along for the global experience.

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Dan LeClair is the Chief Executive Officer at the Global Business School Network. 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.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn and Twitter @drleclair

Business Schools and the Call to Community Action

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On April 15, Chris Yenkey, a professor at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore Business School reached out to me and several others about disinfecting N95 masks. He and some colleagues had designed a working device that can be made for as little $250 using materials mostly sourced from a local building supply store. The local fire department already was using several units to disinfect hundreds of masks per hour and Chris thought the design (which they made publicly available) could be useful in other places where PPE is in short supply.

Last week, we brought Chris together with Luis Borrallo from Strathmore Business School in Kenya and Kathleen (Kat) Riach of University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School in Scotland. Luis heads the Community Service Centre at Strathmore, which is helping secondary schools in vulnerable communities, and Kat started 40@40 and DigiGallus to help us think about learning, leading and living during Covid-19. The three of talked about their work and addressed questions in a webinar format. If you missed it, watch the video.

The webinar was the first in a three-part series featuring GBSN business schools responding to the call to community action. Produced by my colleague, Maddie Handler, the series features initiatives at nine business schools in eight countries and five continents. Register for Part 2 in the series, with ESADE Business School (Spain), University of Macau Faculty of Business Administration (Chinese SAR), and Groupe ISM (Senegal). I would love to hear about your own initiatives too.

Our main objective in launching the “call to community action” webinars is to join the fight against COVID-19—to contribute in a small way to a larger set of solutions. We wanted not only to share why and how the programs were started, but also to explore how can they be scaled or replicated in different contexts and how the Global Business School Network can help. Our thought was that, even if only one additional life or one additional job is saved, it is worth our effort.

They say that organizations (and people too) reveal what (who) they really are in a crisis. From my perspective, business schools have been showing themselves to be more agile, and resourceful and innovative, than believed. Many schools took residential programs online almost overnight and have been improving those programs ever since. We’re seeing schools replace company-based projects and internships with digital ones and adapting admissions strategies to current realities. Now they are creating new hybrid options for the upcoming terms. Frankly, I think business schools will ultimately prove to be more resilient than we thought and others are predicting.

Next, I offer three additional observations from our recent exploration of business school responding to calls for community action. While it is (unfortunately) still early in our experience with COVID-19—many business schools are still putting on or adjusting their masks so they can help others—we can already see that business schools are distinctive, engaged, and impactful. While these observations are merely reminders too many of us who have worked closely with business schools for a long time, I have no doubt that some people, especially critics, will be surprised and skeptical.

Distinctive. While we all tend to generalize when we talk about business schools, the truth is that no two of them are the same. Sure they share a couple general characteristics, such as offering degree education and doing research in business and management, that cause us to call them business schools, and their missions statements can seem remarkably similar. However, the variety of community actions show that they live those missions differently depending on the contexts they operate in, strengths they have, constituents they serve, and more. While MIT convenes a series of hackathons, ESSEC Business School launches “together” its strategy for ecological and social transition, and students and alumni at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) raise $573 million in cash donations and goods to support COVID-19 relief efforts.

Engaged. Business schools have been criticized for being disconnected from practice and policy. But COVID-19 is showing that business schools have not been in a bubble. Scholars and practitioners are working together in webinars to offer highly relevant webinars, such as the Business Reconfigured Webinar Series by the American University of Cairo’s School of Business and Ivey Business School’s MBA Teachable Moments Virtual Speaker Series. I was excited to see that the GIBS Entrepreneurship Development Academy (EDA), with support from J.P. Morgan, will roll out a “practical toolkit to navigate the current climate of uncertainty and economic distress.” One of my favorite examples is the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics which is a collaborative effort between three Finnish universities, including GBSN member Hanken School of Economics. It established an economic situation room to support fast decision making amid the coronavirus crisis.

Impactful. Here I return to the opening of this blog, and the “call to community action.” Many people still carry a limited idea about the role of universities and business schools in society. They see the positive impact primarily through the production of knowledgeable graduates who are more responsible citizens or through scientific research that can eventually informs policies and decisions. These indirect impacts—through people and papers—are important and should be supported. However, that view ignores the real potential for impact right now, through the direct work of business school students, scholars, and leaders.

GBSN was started 17 years ago with direct impact in mind—to bring together business schools, their leaders, faculty, and students, from all over the world to build education capacity for the developing world. I like to say that we were started for SDG4 before the SDGs were created. It is natural for our members to step up to the call for community action, to empower their own communities in the fight against COVID-19.

We will continue to learn more about business schools during this crisis. While the future of higher education is being fundamentally altered by our current experiences, I am certain that the business schools we are working with at GBSN are destined to play an even bigger and more positive role in society.

COVID-19 in Africa

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It is not easy to comprehend the coronavirus outbreak in its global entirety and keep up with its fast-moving developments. It’s even more difficult to understand what it means in a place that is far away and very different from where you live. While the general principles of good hygiene and basic concepts of social distancing and sheltering at home are universal, the contexts in which they are applied are not uniform. Even small differences in economic and political systems, healthcare infrastructures, cultures, news and social media platforms, histories, and more, can lead to very different strategies, experiences, and outcomes across communities.

Being globally connected and locally relevant has always been important to the Global Business School Network. In most weeks, we are working with members and partners across six continents. In the last several days, however, I was able to channel much of my time and energy into Africa, as I engaged in two special opportunities to learn about how the continent is experiencing and addressing COVID-19.

First, I talked with Carl Manlan, who is the COO of Ecobank Foundation. I am fortunate to talk frequently with Africans, in Africa, about Africa, but Carl always brings extra clarity to conversations that span the continent. He describes his current role as a “development practitioner working for an African financial institution.” Prior to Ecobank, Carl contributed to health financing through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and worked at the Economic Commission for Africa as a Mo Ibrahim Fellow. He also worked with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) on a private sector initiative to assist the African Union fight Ebola in West Africa.

Carl kindly agreed to take what was supposed to be a one-to-one catch up meeting and do it live, on Zoom, so that others can be a part of it. He was insightful, as always, and rather than summarize our conversation, I invite you to watch the video, read his articles, and follow him on Twitter @CarlManlan.

Second, I participated as a judge in the Africa Takes on COVID-19, which was the third in a series of MIT COVID-19 Challenge virtual events. Although it was conceived only two weeks prior, applications were received from more than 2,300 prospective participants and 300 potential mentors, from which organizers selected 1,500 participants and 200 mentors, with more than half of the total from Africa. Over 48 hours from Friday to Sunday, these people worked in self-selected teams to define problems, outline solutions, develop and practice pitches, and more.

There were 10 tracks across two broad areas: strengthening the health system and protecting vulnerable populations. I was one of five judges assigned to Track I, which was about “Enabling Work and Supporting Livelihoods” and carried the following prompt:

Within communities that survive on daily wages, a complete economic shutdown is an immediate threat to their lives. Given that such communities do not have robust social protections, and run the risk of low access to food and basic amenities, how can we enable people to safely maintain parts of commerce essential to their survival? How do we address the informal sector?

Let me just say, WOW! We, the judges for Track I, heard 23 amazing pitches in two hours on Sunday afternoon. That’s one every five minutes. Each team had three minutes for their presentation and two minutes to address our questions. MeanwhileÑin real time, we scored each team on four criteria: impact, innovation, implementation, and presentation. I had to work and think faster (and with greater agility) than ever — just to keep up with everyone.

Thanks to my fellow judges for the questions they asked, which helped me to see the solutions from different perspectives. And thank you to David Capodilupo and Stu Krusell at MIT Sloan for your leadership in convening the Challenge and inviting GBSN to be a partner to amplify its impactÑit is why GBSN exists.

Across the two experiences I learned much about Africa and the difficulties it faces in the fight against COVID-19. Many African communities have limited access to clean water and adequate health care. There are many densely populated areas where people cannot avoid living and working in close physical proximity. Without much manufacturing experience, it is hard for Africa to ramp-up production of needed equipment, such as PPE, test, masks, and ventilators. And it is hard to compete for such equipment globally. African countries often lack the “fiscal space” to support the extended lock-downs required to “flatten the curve.” Many of its economies were hit hard and early by sudden collapses in tourism, remittances, and commodity exports attributed to the coronavirus outbreak.

But experiences also helped me to appreciate the special advantages that Africa brings to its fight, and the world’s fight, against the virus and the economic challenges it brings. These advantages include previous experiences with Ebola, which included a coalition of 50 countries even while the disease was largely limited to three countries. The advantages include the foundation already created by investments and innovations in digital and mobile financial services. I learned about solidarity funds, thriving startup ecosystems, and the differences we can make by putting the last mile first in healthcare.

I came away from the two experiences feeling confident and optimistic about Africa’s future. Africa can and will hold its own in the fight again COVID-19. And I came away with new energy for the work we do at GBSN. For it is not only about educating managers and entrepreneurs for places like Africa, so they will have the talent needed to generate prosperity, it is also about making a positive difference for sustainable development everywhere. For that, I believe the rest of the world can learn and benefit from the leadership and innovation of Africa.

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Dan LeClair is the Chief Executive Officer at the Global Business School Network. 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.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn and Twitter @drleclair

A Short Guide to GBSN Online

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It has always been a little frustrating to me that our Twitter handle is @gbsnonline rather than @gbsn, which is not available. Nowadays, I’m starting to appreciate it more. Like many other organizations in business education, the on-the-ground, face-to-face part of our work has been on hold.

During my first year at GBSN, I was in 20 different countries in order to meet face-to-face with business school leaders from at least 50 more. While I’m not proud of the carbon footprint left behind, I learned a lot about GBSN in those meetings, especially from people in places I’ve never been, such as Pakistan, Nigeria, and Egypt. It was eye opening to see and experience management education from entirely new perspectives. By engaging people and schools where they are, we have been able to strengthen our network, build new programs, and increase our visibilityÑand articulate a bold new strategic direction for the organization.

However, while my travel schedule has been demanding, the reality is that the time I spent in face-to-face meetings was only a fraction of the time I spent in virtual meetings using platforms, such as Zoom, Skype, and WhatsApp. For every onsite presentation I delivered, there was at least one virtual one. For every face-to-face event we hosted, we offered at least ten virtual ones, and participated in dozens more.

Indeed, the last month of coronavirus living has helped me to understand and appreciate GBSN as blended organization, one in which our essential work on the ground and face-to-face is complemented and supported by our work online. But it also helped to realize that we haven’t talked enough about our digital work. So here is a short guide to GBSN online, with some notes about how each has been useful in the current crisis.

For the Whole Global Business Education Community

  • Cross-Border Webinars Ð GBSN webinars have been quite popular over the years (under the label cross-border coffee-break), and have been expanded to support schools during the crisis. Nearly 300 people registered for the “Stepping up your online game,” our most recent offering on April 1. Because the webinars have been around for years and easy to plug into, the system has provide a quick and easy way for us to support and collaborate with other organizations in our ecosystem.
  • Opportunities Board Ð This searchable, simple to use platform provides access to a wide range of opportunities offered by or relevant to GBSN members. The Opportunities Board includes internships, fellowships, scholarships, competitions, grants, awards, training programs, and more. Although some opportunities are available only to members, a good many are available to the larger community.
  • Discussion Groups Ð This is an area of growing interest in GBSN. A GBSN LinkedIn group emerged to people to share ideas related to business schools and the coronavirus, as well as general ideas related to management education for the developing world. As noted below, GBSN is migrating to an only platform to support other members-only communities.
  • GBSN EMERGE, Blog, and Newsletter Ð Look for GBSN’s video series soon. GBSN EMERGE videos are designed to capture ideas, opinions, and innovations from around the world in a short format for many of us who don’t have time for longer webinars. Soon to be released are videos addressing the role of mobile learning in addressing the coronavirus outbreak, how business and business schools are adapting in Japan, and the more. The GBSN Blog and monthly GBSN Newsletter address current and relevant topics related to management and entrepreneurship education.
  • Virtual Experiential Learning Library Ð Coming Soon. GBSN is starting an initiative to curate a library of virtual experiential learning products, tools, and platforms. This resource will include information about virtual field trips, games, projects, competitions, and programs.

For GBSN Members Only

  • GBSN Steering Committees Ð These forward-looking Steering Committees meet virtually and provide thought leadership for the network. Current steering committees address the following areas: Experiential Learning, Case Method, Teaching Entrepreneurship, and Annual Conference. In addition, GBSN has advisory boards that meet online to support and guide GBSN overall.
  • GBSN Member-Led Initiatives & Member-Only Opportunities Board Ð As the names imply these two popular GBSN offerings help to share member-led initiatives with potential applicants for a wide range of opportunities, including internships, fellowships, research projects, grant collaborations, and more.
  • GBSN Cross-Border Collabs Ð Coming Soon. Offered monthly, these online collaborative sessions for members only address current topics to share innovations, define issues and problems, and develop new solutions. Participation in for members only and limited to no more than two participants per school.

Although it is not the main focus in this article, it worth mentioning three other initiatives which will strengthen our online presence over the next three months. First, in January we started migrating to an online association management system. This platform will help us to support and connect our members, which continue to grow in numbers and international diversity.

Second, as mentioned above, we are completely rebuilding our website. In addition to telling our inspirational story, it will offer more interactive access to our suite of online services, including the opportunities board, discussion groups, and steering committees mentioned above. Third, we have started to experiment with a number of online platforms ready-made to engage students, faculty, and staff in our mission.

In the end, our mission “to improve access to quality, locally relevant management and entrepreneurship education” requires learning that is both effective and accessible, both global and local, and both personal and scalable. It is hard to imagine achieving that mission unless we are both face-to-face and online.

width=Dan LeClair is the Chief Executive Officer at the Global Business School Network. 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.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn and Twitter @drleclair

Reflections on GBSN in the First Months of 2020

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Twenty-twenty already has been a very active year for the staff team supporting the Global Business School Network (GBSN). In Nigeria we co-hosted a workshop with Lagos Business School and the African Academy of Management (AFAM) on the role of business schools in Africa’s sustainable development. Then we went from the Yabacon Valley to Silicon Valley, where we contributed to the fifth annual African Diaspora Investment Symposium, and onward to Cairo for roundtables convened by the AUC School of Business to look ahead on occasion of its 10th Anniversary. We also participated in AACSB and EFMD annual deans conferences in music city and the fashion capital of the world, Nashville and Milan, respectively.

Meanwhile, the U.K. formally left the EU on January 31, we experienced devastating bush fires in Australia, and saw escalating tensions between Iran and America. A new strain of coronavirus, now named COVID-19, appeared in China and quickly spread internationally. Despite noble efforts of global health professionals, the number of confirmed infections and deaths, and their locations, have grown dramatically. The impact on business education has been profound and far-reaching; and costly. Like many schools, GBSN had to cancel a student trip to China. And the end is nowhere in sight. See what “A Virus Teaches Us a Lesson About Globalization, written by GBSN’s Board Chair, Soumitra Dutta.

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The activities and events of the 2020’s first two months have provided much for us reflect on. For me, they have drawn attention to two fundamental characteristics of the Global Business School Network.

GBSN is a global network for local relevance and impact.

When it comes to higher education, business schools have been on the front lines of globalization. Learners pursue education across borders; international scholars collaborate and share ideas in the interest of truth and science; business schools from different countries work together to provide cross-cultural experiences; and more. However, as is often the case, our greatest strength can be our greatest weakness.

It is easy to believe that globalization must be undone to protect ourselves wherever we are. It is tempting to build walls. But that would be a mistake, for globalization is not an end to itself. It is a means to an endÑto a better world, and we must keep our eye on that. Rather than being a threat to local cultures and economies, globalization can preserve and expand them. However, that depends on our approach to globalization.

How do we leverage globalization to improve society? For the Global Business School Network, that means connecting organizations and people across borders to enable, nurture and support inclusive and sustainable development from a local perspective. It means bringing together international resources to address the most pressing problems in and for the developing world. That is the spirit of GBSNÑa global network driven by local relevance and impact.

We must be clear that globalization is not about homogenization. GBSN must step up to manage that risk, especially in higher education, where shared assumptions about quality are informed more by inputs rather than by impacts, and often reinforced through rankings, accreditations, and other institutions.

That is why GBSN is committed to stewarding the development of research models relevant to the developing world. This leads us to the second fundamental characteristic of GBSN.

GBSN is about diversity and inclusiveness

Our vision at GBSN is for the developing world to have the managerial and entrepreneurial talent it needs to generate prosperity. Our missionÑthe way we achieve that visionÑis to improve access to quality, locally relevant management and entrepreneurship education for the developing world. It is natural that we tend to focus on business schools when we think about GBSN.

However, while the focal point has always been education, GBSN has always been about bringing together many different types of organizations, from higher education, the private sector, foundations, NGOs, and government. And the higher education industry is changing, giving rise to new and different types of institutions and a changing ecosystem. Technology is improving the effectiveness of education, and access to it. Accordingly, GBSN is diverse and dynamic. It is not a club. As a purpose-driven network, it embraces and engages a wide-range of organizations and approaches to achieve its vision and mission. It is where traditional business schools work with corporate universities and education startups, as well as NGOs, in new and creative ways.

In the coming months and throughout 2020, you will see GBSN continue to gain strength through diversity as we expand and connect our network. You will see our energy focused on local relevance, as in our special workshop on “Developing Research That Matters for Latin America” with the Academy of Management and IPADE Business School and “Embracing the Excluded: A Transformative Role for Business Schools” with Funda‹o Dom Cabral. You also will see us looking “Beyond Business and Borders” in our Annual Conference, this year hosted by the Miami Herbert Business School.

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Dan LeClair is the Chief Executive Officer at the Global Business School Network. 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.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn and Twitter @drleclair

What Makes Your Business School Truly Distinctive?

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Over the next two weeks business school leaders will gather for two big events, the AACSB Deans Conference in Nashville and EFMD Deans and Directors Conference in Milan. Nearly one thousand deans will attend either meeting or both, giving the gatherings enormous potential to shape the future of the industry.

The conferences will inspire participants and enable them to share experiences and ideas amongst peers, since both meetings are restricted only to the top executives of business schools. The deans will renew friendships and start new ones. They will come from all corners of the world, yet marvel at how small the business school community really is. They will bring questions, lots of challenging questions, for each other. The competitive landscape is indeed changing and everyone is trying to make sense of where management education is going.

Going into these events, I offer words of support and encourage every business school leader to take advantage of the opportunity to explore the most fundamental of all questions: “What makes your business school truly distinctive?” Indeed, I encourage everyone connected to a business school, including faculty, professional staff, students, and alumni, to consider the question.

Something more

Many years ago, I wrote a note following a visit to Morehouse College, which is a private historically black liberal arts college for men based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. In many ways the school is just like others. It “challenges itself to be among the very finest liberal arts institutions in the world,” it offers a wide range of programs, including business and management, and its academic community is dedicated to teaching, scholarship, and service. But that’s not all.

Morehouse College assumes the “special responsibility for teaching the history and culture of black people.” It cares about the continuing search for “truth as a liberating force” and seeks “students who are willing to pay the price of gaining strength and confidence by confronting adversity, mastering their fears, and achieving success by earning it.” Everything about enabling young black men, especially underprivileged ones, to realize their full potential. I was struck during my visit by the realization that every school has something special like what Morehouse has. I wrote about that in my note and called it “Something More(house)” to honor the school.

Something more can be expressed in different ways. It could be a defining philosophy or an approach. I love MIT’s Mens et Manus which is Latin for “mind and hand” and describes the combination of thought and action needed to solve challenging problems. Both mind and hand are reflected in MIT Sloan’s “Ideas Made to Matter.” For other institutions, something more could be an expectation, such as “to contribute to the sustainable development of society” which is the opening phrase in the mission of Funda‹o Dom Cabral, or it could be a commitment, as when Copenhagen Business School says it will make “responsible management integral to all education.” Something more can also stress the importance of a geographic region. The Olayan School of Business at American University of Beirut has a vision to “transform business thinking in the MENA region” and HKUST Business School aims to serve as a “gateway to China.” Or it could be about global leadership, as in INSEAD’s mission to “bring together people, cultures and ideas to develop responsible leaders who transform business and society.“

What do all of the examples in the previous paragraph have in common (besides being about members of the Global Business School Network)? They all go beyond business, adding something that gives meaning to business and connects to the school roots, location, or strengths.

Higher education for business is not just about serving business needs with knowledge and talent, its about shaping the roles and responsibilities of business in society.

Something all yours

Whatever it is or form it takes, something more can be powerful. It has the potential to tie everything together and become an integral part of the school’s culture. It can inform curriculum development, serving as the ever-elusive “being” that gives meaning to the “knowing” and “doing” discussed in Rethinking the MBA by Srikant Datar, David Garvin, and Patrick Cullen. Discovering what makes your school truly distinctive also inspires innovation and can attract scholars and students who increasingly want to engage in a higher purpose.

Many people think that all business schools are the same. I believe every business school has its own reason for being. Every school has something more to offer, because it has unique origins, operates in different contexts, and engages different communities. Most importantly, a school has a unique set of people—the scholars, learners, and professional staff— that give life to the institution. That’s why I believe the process of identifying what makes a school truly distinctive is more about discovery than creating.

Breaking boundaries

The conversations in Nashville and Milan will naturally be grounded in long-held assumptions about what business schools do and what makes them great. After all, every community needs a common language to facilitate communication. These assumptions can be especially powerful in higher education. Most of us have had similar experiences, such as earning a PhD and living the life of an academic. And systems, like rankings and accreditation, reflect and reinforce these experiences and assumptions.

But the times are changing and narrow definitions of “quality” are giving way to broad categorizations of impact. The Positive Impact Rating was introduced this year at Davos, some criteria for rankings are being reconsidered, and accreditation standards are being revised to further elevate the importance of outcomes over inputs. At the same time, mission is making room for purpose and the differences we intend to make. As I wrote in 2016, “For Business Schools, Being Good is No Longer Good Enough.“

So I encourage breaking free from traditions in the many conversations to come. “Question the status quo” (one of four defining principles at Berkeley Haas) and focus on differences more than similarities. Embrace something more for business schools. After all, our strength as a community, especially our collective power as a force for good, comes not only from what we have in common but also from our differences.

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Dan LeClair is the Chief Executive Officer at the Global Business School Network. 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.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn and Twitter @drleclair

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