GBSN CEO

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

GBSN’s Strategic Direction

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The Global Business School Network (GBSN) launched in 2003 as a program of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) at the World Bank. It’s founding was motivated by the vast amounts of money, resources, and human potential going to waste due to poor management, corruption and the like. Emerging markets needed money, but they also needed human capacity to effectively manage resources and productively lead teams. And, at the time, there was too little attention to expanding and improving management education in these regions.

For 17 years, GBSN pursued its mission by leading and participating in a large number of international development projects designed to increase management education capacity. For example, GBSN aided in developing a “Certificate in Entrepreneurial Management” in Nigeria, and that served as a model for its support of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women program. GBSN worked on feasibility studies for business schools in Bangladesh and Pakistan. It was instrumental in establishing the Association of African Business Schools (AABS). Through these examples and many more like them, GBSN made a big difference improving management capacity throughout the developing world and firmly established itself as project-driven international development organization.

This project work helped to build a network of business schools dedicated to the original vision and mission. Today GBSN is an independent 501(c)3 organization based Washington, DC, and has member schools on six continents and a global mission. Its original success not only made GBSN a highly respected organization, it has also established its potential as a game-changer for the developing world at a critical time given changing demographics, launching of the sustainable development goals, and shifting geo-political environment.

Strategic Priorities

The GBSN vision is for the developing world to have the management talent it needs to generate prosperity.

The GBSN mission is “to improve access to quality, locally relevant management education for the developing world.”

How does GBSN realize this potential? We build on our experience as project-driven development organization to become a purpose-driven network organization. To take this bold step, we have three strategic priorities.

 

Strategic Priority 1: Grow and diversify the network

We have been strategically expanding the number of business school partners and countries they represent. In nine short months, the network has grown from 69 schools in 29 countries to more than 100 schools in 50 countries. We added schools from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Hungary, Russia, China, and more. In addition, we have started to engage different kinds of organizations in our mission. These organizations include learning centers, such as Ecobank Academy, which is responsible for developing the bank’s team of 16,000 people across Africa, and new kinds of institutions, such as WorldQuant University which offers a master’s of science degree in financial engineering online and tuition-free to qualified learners all over the world.

Strategic Priority 2: Build sustainable programs that continuously engage partners and participants in pursuit of the mission

This winter, GBSN is launching its Global Treks program to provide meaningful developing world learning experiences. We are also experimenting with a partnership to connect company projects to student teams. Finally, we are expanding the number of developing world centered student-focused competitions. This fall, for example, we collaborated with Cornell’s Emerging Markets Institute on their case competition.

For faculty, we are developing case writing and research collaborations, as well as training programs. Nearly 10 applications have been received for our Small Grant Competition program in collaboration with the SWIFT Institute. This program supports faculty to write cases about managing cybersecurity in financial institutions based in emerging economies. Similar programs are under development. We have also outlined plans to provide training for scholars, professional staff, and international development professionals.

Finally, our events have been important vehicle for convening business school leaders and connecting them with stakeholder groups. So we are introducing a richer menu of workshops beyond the annual meeting, with the objective of being on four to five continents with programs every year. Already for 2020 we have events planned for Nigeria, Brazil, and the United States.

Strategic Priority 3: Interconnect organizations and networks to foster innovation and scale impact

With a larger network, our community-building initiatives will grow and create additional value for members. Early in 2020 we plan to announce a series of specialized networks/communities within the GBSN brand, as well as collaborative partnerships to connect developing world (business and social) problems to problem solvers. It also is worth noting that GBSN also has a role to play in connecting other networks across borders, regions, disciplines, and sectors.

Three Themes

Before closing, we should describe three overarching themes shaping the development of the network, its programs and its communities. First, we are increasing our focus on local relevance. Our global network exists not to enable imperialism or otherwise foster homogeneity, but rather to enable local communities to develop in ways that are most appropriate to their circumstances. We will emphasize the creation of content, insights, and experiences that are most relevant and useful locally, as well as appreciate the importance of context in the development of management schools.

Second, we are connecting schools for societal impact. The vision of GBSN is about generating prosperity by improving management and leadership in the developing world. Prosperity means economic growth and progress, but not at the expense of equality, human rights and our environment. At GBSN, we will orient our efforts towards solving societal problems not just business ones. Similarly, we will encourage efforts that contribute to achieving the global goals.

Third, we are developing entrepreneurship across the network and its regions. New business creation is important to GBSN because we must expand the number and quality of jobs, as well as educate people to do them. Successful business leaders also invest in educating their workforce, contributing to the mission of GBSN, and they give back to their alma maters.

So, that is our strategic direction. I would love to hear what you think and explore how your school can participate.

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

10 Questions with GBSN CEO, Dan LeClair

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Lisa Leander, Membership Senior Advisor, sits down with GBSN’s recently appointed CEO, Dan LeClair to reflect on his first few months leading the network.

I have had the pleasure to work with Dan LeClair these last three months and get to know him as the leader and champion of GBSN. Before Dan, I worked with Guy Pfeffermann for over eight years, so there is much to learn about each other and our different management styles. I thought I would take this opportunity to get to know who he is, and in doing so share what I discover with our GBSN members.

Lisa Leander: Dan, in two months you have hit the ground running, introducing nearly 20 new members and five new countries to our network. You have an incredible and long history working with business schools globally with over 19 years at AACSB, and also have collaborated with GBSN for many years as well. I imagine there is very little that you haven’t experienced in this field. So tell me, what in the last two months has surprised you the most?

Dan LeClair: I have been surprised about how much genuine enthusiasm there is for the vision of GBSN, which is for the developing world to have the management talent it needs to generate prosperity. Leaders in business schools everywhere in the world want to participate in achieving that vision. And, what’s really cool it that they want to innovate and try new things by working with GBSN.

Lisa: Tell us a bit about how things are going so far, you have had the opportunity to visit several of our members, attend Learning by Doing in India and visit several countries.

Dan: Well, we have a long way to go in order to have the kind of impact we are seeking, but our efforts to build on GBSN’s decade and a half of successful projects have been going well. Since I arrived, we have conducted or participated in successful workshops with educators in India, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Miami (with Latin American deans from Cladea). We have initiated development of several new programs that will not only improve management in the developing world, but also create new opportunities for all of our partner schools to engage in the mission and extend their impact globally.

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Lisa: Since the start of your career, you have led or participated in the development of hundreds of conferences. There are so many conferences to attend! Why do you think the GBSN Annual Conference this November, in Lisbon, Portugal is a not to be missed event?

Dan: You are right, I have decades of experience with conferences in the management education industry. Yet, when I started at GBSN, my colleagues asked me, “please don’t mess up our Annual Conference.” I promised. That’s because I have been to previous GBSN conferences and do believe they are special. They are more interactive and relaxed with a genuine peer-to-peer feel. After all, we all share the same purpose. This year’s theme, measuring the impact of business schools, is timely and important.

Lisa: Following on the theme of the conference that you mentioned, where do you feel business schools could have the most impact?

Dan: Locally! I believe business schools are economic and social anchors in their communities and have always said that the Sustainable Development Goals won’t be achieved through global leadership, but rather through local initiative. That doesn’t mean internationalization isn’t important. In fact, global connections enable us to strengthen our impact on the communities we serve. Way more than in any other field of study, business students and faculty all over the world are deeply engaged in projects that benefit organizations and communities in important ways.

Lisa:With so many networks out there, what makes GBSN stand out from the rest?

Dan:Definitely its purpose and focus on the mission. Schools join other networks for the direct benefits they provide. They join GBSN first to participate in achieving the mission. And they benefit as a consequence of that. In the end, we’re told by members that the value they receive is a multiple of what they put in. And part of our job at GBSN has been to increase that multiple.

Lisa: GBSN is one of the few networks that is very focused on building the future leaders and managers of the developing world. What would you say is your own leadership style?

Dan: I’ve been told by colleagues that my favorite question is “how can I help?” From the time I was a youngster playing ball, I always thought my role in life is to help others achieve their goals and objectives. This approach comes naturally to meÑit makes me happy. I also have a strong drive to seek clarity on problems and solutions. I like to boil things down and constantly create and refine ideas with the team. Finally, for good or bad, I think my leadership style has always included a lot of trust. I’ve never been interested in monitoring and expecting to evaluate work before it is completed. When mistakes happen, I just like to learn from them and move on. As you might expect, throughout my career I missed a few opportunities to fix problems before they happened. And, at times, my trust was misplaced. But overall I feel like people have delivered on their commitments and on the high expectations we’ve set together.

Lisa: Is there a favorite book or author that has influenced your leadership style?

Dan: When it comes to leadership, I have been influenced more by working with people than reading about them. One can learn as much or more from bad leaders as good ones. A lot can be learned by asking what is it about this person that I don’t want to emulate. Learning what behaviors to avoid can be easier than trying to figure out how to be like others. Lessons in leadership are everywhere if you take the time to observe, listen, and reflect. Back to your question, I learned a lot about decision making by reading Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow. I have also been recommending Adaptive Space by my friend, Michael Arena, for drawing on research and experience to show how social capital works to foster innovation.

Lisa: What do you think your former employees would say about your leadership style?

Dan: Throughout my career I have tried to have regular conversations with colleagues about how we lead and manage. Not just about what we’re good at or able to do, but also about our limitations. For example, we might talk about our limited visibility across the organization, lack of time to review work, and how unrealistic (or conservative) we can be about goals. So these conversations would help me and my colleagues to see things we were missing, understand where there are risks in projects, and be more thoughtful about goals. The point is that these transparent conversations put usÑall of usÑin a better position to lead. All that said, John Fernandes who led AACSB for most of my time there used to say that I bring my head and my heart to everything I doÑand that I’m driven more by the purpose than the paycheck. I do hope all of my colleagues and connections would say these things about me long after I’m gone.

Lisa: I may know a few of your former colleagues, so we’ll see if they agree in the comments! You are looking to launch a few new exciting initiatives, can you tell us a bit more about what members can look out for this year?

Dan: I could go on and on in response to that question. To me, it is the most exciting part about what we’re doing at GBSN. In addition to strengthening the core network, you can expect a stronger emphasis on “local relevance” in new programs and services, especially in creating context-ready knowledge and providing for meaningful experiential learning for the developing world. You can also expect a stronger emphasis on leveraging the network to increase the economic and social impact of business schools.

Lisa: As for my final question, for all our well traveled colleagues out there with all of those miles under their belts, any tips or tricks on how you manage jet lag?

Dan: My secret is to sleep irregularly when at home. If you have no pattern, then there is nothing to break while traveling. Just kidding. I don’t have a secret, I just adapt wherever I am and whatever time it is, and draw energy from learning about the place and its people.

Lisa: Jet lag is the worst! I was really hoping you had a secret solution. Dan, Thank you for sharing your insight with us and I hope you will bring in a copy of those books you recommended to the office.

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

 

 

width=Lisa Leander is an international development expert with over 17 years of experience managing capacity building projects globally. In her role as Senior Advisor, Membership at GBSN she supports member engagement strategies and international events. In her previous positions she has overseen USAID, World Bank, U.S State Department trade and entrepreneurship projects globally with a project portfolio of up to $24 million. She has managed overall operations, implemented programs, conducted impact evaluations, negotiated contracts, and built systems in multiple developing countries and contexts. From 2008-2016 Lisa was the Membership Engagement Officer for GBSN where she managed membership strategies and executing international projects.

 

The Future of Management Education is Experiential

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Not long ago I asked the CLO of very large and well-known multinational company what’s new and, in particular, what they were doing to develop HiPOS (high potentials). She hesitated, unsure about sharing something so significant to the company, and eventually confided that they are bringing them together in cross-functional teams, which will be dropped into remote African villages to solve challenging and important problemsÑand bond at the same time. I wasn’t surprised, but should have been more delicate with my reply. I said, “Well, business schools have been providing those types of experiences for a long time. And with great success.”

For me this brief interaction pointed to three interesting developments in management education. First, it provided an example of the blurring boundaries between what companies and business schools do. Second, it revealed some of the key advantages of ‘learning by doing” to develop managers and leaders. Third, it demonstrated the importance of context in creating meaningful and effective learning experiences.

There was a time when it was all fairly clear. The classroom was where we were taught and the office was where we worked. Advances in information technology changed all that, freeing learners from the confines of the classroom and allowing learning to sync with the rhythm of work and life. More recently, we have begun to realize that education is no longer something to finish before entering the workforce, or an episodic event shortly thereafter, in order to accelerate or transform careers. People must continuously learn and develop throughout their working lives. And so the boundaries between work and education have been blurring. Now, working means learning.

Learning also means working. In a world where content is easy to access, business schools have been given permission to concentrate more on the application of concepts and development of skills. In addition to internships and “real-world” projects, some of the most exciting work in higher education has been in developing the space between academia and practice. Interactive simulations are recreating the workplace within the school and providing a safer (and quicker) place to fail without derailing our careers. Virtual reality and augmented reality are helping us to build new management practice fields and bring more diversity, depth, and data into the learning process.

But technology isn’t everything. As illustrated by the opening example, experiential learning is about people just like management is about people. And it shines when humans interact, co-create solutions, and make a difference together, learning from each other as much as from digital content. They gain experience in handling conflict and navigating differences. And they generate social capital, which is the topic of a previous post called “The Connective Power of Experiential Learning.”

Finally, the opening example shows that experiential learning is about context. It’s not only about putting learners into realistic and challenging work situations, but also about exposing them to the cultural, regulatory, and economic differences that are, and will always be, embedded in business. What works in Canada may not work in Cameroon, Colombia, and Cambodia, or the United States for that matter. Diverse experiences build learning agility, the capacity for rapid learning to address new and unfamiliar situations and problems. That’s why experiential learning has become such an important part of the Global Business School Network (GBSN) mission, which is to improve access to high-quality, locally-relevant management and entrepreneurship education for the developing world.

That’s also why GBSN and S.P. Jain Institute of Management Research (SPJIMR) are co-hosting a Learning by Doing Summit in Mumbai, April 4-5, 2019. It is an intensive and interactive event geared to participants who are looking to develop a new experiential learning program or modify or scale a current one. One particularly exciting part of the program features experiential learning models from SPJIMR. Facilitators will take small groups into the field for hands-on examples of non-classroom learning programs and initiatives. We are proud to announce that CapSim, a global leader in experiential learning for business as well as business education, will participate as a feature sponsor. Generous sponsorships make GBSN’s learning and networking events accessible to those who will benefit the most in emerging economies.

So back to future of management education. It is indeed being shaped by technology, though not only in the disruptive way we often imagine or read about in the news. Technology will take care of the content, making it readily accessible to learners, and it will provide management educators with new resources and tools, such as assessments and analytics, to reach students and improve education. But it will also enable business schools and companies to focus on providing more tangible, human-centered, transformative experiences from which we learn how to lead. The future of management education is experiential.

Dan LeClair width= 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

Media Rankings and the Challenge of Change in Management Education

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If you could change anything_Ñ_anything at all_Ñ_about your business school, what would it be? In one form or another, that basic question is placed before every business school leader. Whereas “nothing_Ñ_nothing at all” might once have sufficed for the sake of continuity and tradition, it’s no longer viewed as an acceptable response. Business school leaders, like the rest of us, live and lead in an economy described by terms and phrases such as disruptive, exponential growth, Fourth Industrial Revolution, automated, and VUCA. The time to think that business schools can continue teaching what they have, the same way, to the same people, in the same places, and with the same faculty is over. This article is about how business schools are stepping up to the challenge of change and what rankings can and can’t do to support them.

The Challenge of Change

However basic the question_Ñ_”What should our school change ?”_Ñ_the answer is not easy for business school leaders to get to. Different stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, institutional leaders, donors, and local community leaders, have variable and sometimes conflicting needs and expectations. And there is no single right answer that can be shared, passed along across all business schools globally. What truly matters depends on the school’s strategies, strengths, weaknesses, structures, and relationships, as well as on its history and the context in which it operates. Even when a school decides to change, implementing it can be especially challenging in higher education. The culture still favors tradition over innovation and reputation over results.

Like any organization, business schools are part of a larger ecosystem that connects competitors, learners, employers, suppliers, distributors, regulators, and more. The ecosystem includes business and government, startups and incumbents, disruptors and resisters. It includes an expansive group of organizations supporting management education with services, such as admission tests, learning management systems, marketing plans, scholarships and loans, content and cases, certifications, and accreditations. The defining characteristic of an ecosystem is interdependence_Ñ_each organization affects and is affected by the others. Organizations collaborate and/or compete. They flex and adapt. They co-evolve. Change_Ñ_a mutation_Ñ_is risky and may not replicate when it isn’t fit for or doesn’t fit the system, which is itself changing.

Enter the Rankings

For three decades, media-driven rankings have been a significant part of the graduate management education ecosystem. Proponents claim that rankings have been instrumental in turning the MBA into one of the most successful education products in the history of higher education. Some credit rankings for motivating business schools to place more emphasis on soft skills and career services. At the same time, rankings have been criticized for intractable methodological problems, causing excessive and expensive reporting burdens, creating perverse incentives, stifling innovation, and more. Good or bad, the numbers and whether they rise or fall are not inconsequential to the students (including prospects and alumni), faculty, staff, and supporters of a ranked business school.

A new report, Business School Rankings for the 21st Century released in late January at Davos, points to existing research confirming that (a) MBA programs do indeed affect the attitudes and behaviors of students and (b) rankings are a major force shaping what business schools do and don’t do in those MBA programs. Based on this research and round table discussions with deans and other industry leaders, the authors of the report conclude that MBA programs have been slow to adapt curricula in a fast changing world in part because rankings do not_Ñ_by design_Ñ_consider what is actually taught.

Instead of assessing curricula and learning outcomes, the rankings include more easily tabulated variables such as student test scores and prior experience, alumni and recruiter opinions, salaries and placement statistics, and publications in top journals. Over time, MBA programs have adapted to these kind of metrics, with unfortunate results. Change is seen as “too risky”_Ñ_even when there is a strong belief that doing so will improve the quality, relevance, and impact of their program. Why jeopardize our rank by recruiting a more diverse class or one that more favors entrepreneurship? Why expand the business experience of faculty when academic citations count more than relevance to practice? Why take the risk of reinventing the MBA when it could cause even a temporary drop in our rank?

Why, indeed. However compelling the status quo may feel, the report’s main recommendation advises a bolder path: it is time to transform rankings so that business schools will and can do more to achieve a “more productive, sustainable, and inclusive economy.”

If that’s what we want, then transforming MBA education is an effective lever. We can seek ways to revise rankings criteria so that schools are rewarded rather than punished for welfare-enhancing changes. While the authors stop short of offering a blueprint for new rankings, they do offer a list “topics that might be put on the agenda,” and acknowledge that some changes will be more controversial and difficult than others. We can already see signs that these recommendations are being heard, as at least one ranking body is reconsidering their formula and new ratings are being co-created by business and academia.

Beyond Rankings: Catalyzing Innovation in the Broader Ecosystem

With the contributions from dozens of stakeholders, from across the media rankings landscape, it’s hard to disagree with this report’s conclusions. Business schools should be enabled, rather than hindered in their efforts to change. Rankings can and should help business schools that want to lead efforts to move purpose ahead of profit and elevate the needs of tomorrow in relation to today. It is, increasingly, what readers and leaders want, and it is what business and society needs. However, rankings reform isn’t enough. They are only one part of the larger system. Rankings are neither the beginning nor the end of what must be done.

So with that, here are three reasons why we must think beyond the rankings to catalyze the kind of changes that society needs_Ñ_and three directions to explore.

First, media rankings have been limited mostly to MBA degree programs offered by a relatively small number of schools. Meanwhile, fueled by technological advances and accelerating change in business, the broader demand for advanced management education has been growing rapidly. Workers are also learners and will need help navigating their own managerial development, connecting to a growing array of shorter educational programs, and signaling their skills and competencies with new types of credentials. Yet, we have only just begun to build the infrastructure to support lifelong learning and the reskilling revolution. Over the last few years, I have been excited to learn about and support many initiatives to better align education to the changing needs of learners and business. These efforts are connecting business and higher education in new and important ways, essentially rewiring labor markets as well as education ecosystems.

Second, it makes sense for rankings to put more weight on the business experience of faculty, but we also need new platforms to strengthen the connections between practicing managers and academic scholars across disciplines. The current systems and culture supporting research are entrenched and will require more concerted efforts beyond rankings reform. That’s where the growing community of leading scholars across business disciplines participating in the Responsible Research in Business and Management (RRBM) initiative have been making a difference by seeding experiments, building new awards and recognitions, and stimulating policy changes across the ecosystem. We are seeing digital disruption in research from new and established companies. They are for example, redefining social networks for scholars and metrics for measuring impact.

Third, while the most powerful rankings are globally-oriented, many of the needed transformations and impacts are local. Global challenges, including poverty, climate, water crises, and human rights_Ñ_require local solutions that business schools can help to create. How will we help schools deal with the pressure to achieve global recognition, largely supported by rankings, and enable them to be locally relevant and impactful at the same time?How do we scale education, even while providing access to locally-relevant content and experiences in developing worlds? Indeed, more and more business schools have started to measure their local impact_Ñ_tracking the companies and jobs they help create and attract, and myriad ways they contribute to improving their communities. These are the challenges that the Global Business School Network addresses by bringing together business schools, industry, foundations and aid agencies from around the globe to improve access to quality, locally-relevant management education for the developing world.

So, yes we must rethink rankings but should not convince ourselves that it is enough for the world we want. Just as any business school should view rankings as a means to achieve its mission and intended impact, rather than as the end, we all should see reforms as part of a larger, shared vision in which business schools are vital to achieving global prosperity. Every part of the ecosystem, including businesses that haven’t yet been created, can play a role in helping business schools to be the kind of institutions that society needs. It is difficult for every part of the ecosystem to change dramatically and overnight, but the larger vision can guide individual and progressive improvements, bending the current path in ways that will make a huge difference in the future.

This blog article can also be found on the GRLI Blog

The GBSN Annual Conference in Lisbon will continue the conversation around Measuring the Impact of Business Schools. Lead the conversation around measuring the impact of business schools by preparing a session proposal for the GBSN 2019 Annual Conference. Submit a session proposal

Dan LeClair width= 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

GBSN Board of Directors Names Dan LeClair as Chief Executive Officer

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width=GBSN is pleased to announce the appointment of Dan LeClair as Chief Executive Officer effective February 12, 2019.

Dan LeClair is a widely recognized expert on business education. For over 30 years, LeClair has dedicated his career to supporting higher education organizations to innovate and achieve growth in core programs and services.

“Dan LeClair’s appointment will increase GBSN’s effectiveness and make the organization fit for the future,” said Soumitra Dutta, Chairman of the GBSN Board of Directors. “His extensive experience in business education will help accelerate innovation across the GBSN network.”

Combining a deep knowledge of business schools, an extensive international network, and a focus on strategic and operational excellence, LeClair will lead the advancement of innovative programs that will bridge connections with business schools and industry around the world to catalyze investment in business education as a tool for economic and social development.

“Advancing business education and development worldwide is my passion, and it is an honor to be selected as Chief Executive Officer,” said Dan LeClair. “I look forward to working with the GBSN team and the network base to chart new directions for the organization.”

LeClair comes to GBSN after 19 years at AACSB International, where he served in various leadership positions. His experience includes Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Knowledge Officer. Prior to AACSB International, Dan was an associate dean and an academic economist at the University of Tampa College of Business.

Click here to read Dan LeClair’s full bio

Connect with Dan

Email: dleclair at gbsn.org

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