Ambition is AMBA’s thought leadership magazine, offering regular insights into the challenges and trends that matter most in global management education
Ambiti n The magazine of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
Issue 5 2026 VOLUME 89
School president David Bach on reinventing management education Why IMD means business
ENTERING THE ERA OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP How biz ed is rewriting the rules of startup success
THE PERILS OF PLAYING IT SAFE Why Kingston advocates embracing institutional risk
AFRICA GOES BEYOND ACCREDITATION NWU cultivates quality through context
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ISSUE 5 • 2026 • VOLUME 89
NEWS & INS IGHT
REGULARS
07 | MEMO FROM THE EDITOR Businesses need to translate purpose into practice when it comes to investing in AI and integrating the technology into future strategies 44 | IN FOCUS The educational approach behind the University of Exeter Business School’s One Planet MBA 46 | VIEW FROM THE TOP CEO Andrew Main Wilson outlines the key attributes and personality traits that employers
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increasingly demand when recruiting MBA graduates
08 | BUSINESS BRIEFING AMBA schools in France, Uruguay, Ireland, Canada, Spain and Norway feature in the latest selection of news and research updates from across the global network 20 | PERSPECTIVES ON… ENTREPRENEURSHIP Faculty members at institutions in Finland, the UK, Mexico and Egypt share their strategies on fostering resilience, critical judgement and the core founder mindset 40 | A WINNING BLEND Lars Erling Olsen on turning BI Norwegian Business School’s EMBA into a blended learning format and winning the AMBA & BGA Digital Transformation Award 2026
OPINION
32 | THE ENGAGEMENT EQUATION PUCP’s Iván Figueroa reflects on today’s evolving digital tools and platforms and asks how business school academics can continue to impact the lives of younger generations
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BEYOND ACCREDITATION AMBA-accredited business schools have access to a range of complimentary resources, including PR and marketing support, the opportunity to be featured in our flagship magazine, Ambition , free student and graduate membership, our global Membership Platform and discounts across our award-winning international events portfolio, as well as free Business Graduates Association (BGA) membership. To find out more and access AMBA’s products and services, visit www.amba-bga.com/beyond-accreditation
ISSUE 5 • 2026 • VOLUME 89
FEATURES
12 | COVER STORY IN CONVERSATION WITH... DAVID BACH IMD Business School president David Bach reveals the benefits of cutting back on bureaucracy and describes how competition forges resilience
28 | TECH TOOLS FOR TALENT Trinity College Dublin’s Amanda Shantz details five roles, with increasing levels of responsibility, that can be assigned to AI on an MBA programme
34 | THE PERILS OF PLAYING IT SAFE Head of Kingston Business
18 | CLASSROOMS THAT CHANGE COMMUNITIES To drive transformation, schools should partner with organisations on the design of executive education programmes, says Nottingham Business School’s Mel Bull
School Sankar Sivarajah explains why institutions need to embrace a culture of experimentation
38 | THE ARCHITECTURE OF ALIGNMENT Joseph Sekhampu and Geraldine Meyers from NWU Business School in South Africa consider how locational context and complexity impact institutions’ experience of accreditation
26 FROM FRAGILITY TO FUTUREPROOFING
Manchester Metropolitan University Business School’s Katharina De Vita elaborates on how today’s management education sector needs an overhaul to navigate changing resources and trends in student mobility
Ambition • ISSUE 5 • 2026 5
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MEMO FROM THE EDITOR
EDITORIAL Head of editorial Colette Doyle c.doyle@amba-bga.com Content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@amba-bga.com Insight, content & PR manager Ellen Buchan e.buchan@amba-bga.com
PURPOSE IN PRACTICE With the ever-accelerating adoption of AI, businesses must be proactive about making it fit their strategy y recent trip to Milan to attend Polimi Graduate School of Management’s fourth annual Purpose Day, co-hosted with the Purpose Centre at HEC Paris, offered a stark reminder of just how fast next-gen technology is outpacing human governance. As school chairman Vittorio Chiesa pointed out, too many businesses are still adopting technology out of sheer inertia rather than conscious design. The event’s centrepiece – the 2026 Purpose in Action Observatory research – revealed a striking paradox. Although AI is deeply embedded in decision-making and planning, one in four companies still lacks a clear strategy and 60 per cent adopt the technology purely for cost-cutting reasons. Most alarmingly, only nine per cent of managers feel their organisation is truly ready for hybrid teams. As the observatory’s co-scientific director, Josip Kotlar noted, purpose is “no longer a matter of definition, but of implementation”. If purpose remains a static statement, AI will dictate strategy rather than the other way around. Speaking to me at the event, Polimi dean Federico Frattini emphasised that filtering technical training through a human-centric lens is essential. Frattini noted that authentic purpose requires total operational alignment – from innovation budgets to supply chains – and must become an “obsession” for top management. This sentiment was echoed across the day’s panels. Google Italy VP Melissa Ferretti Peretti stressed that AI must augment human capacity rather than replace it, while thinkers like Darren Rudkin advocated for a “bookends” model: human purpose frames the work, AI processes it and people retain ultimate judgement. Meanwhile, Rodolphe Durand, academic director of HEC Paris’s Purpose Centre, highlighted the way in which European business schools are pioneering a shift from purpose as a superficial corporate ‘signal’ to an active governance tool. When purpose guides governance, AI investments are judged against a firm’s reason for being, rather than raw efficiency alone. Ultimately, as Samsung president Mauro Porcini challenged the audience: “When our children ask us what our role was in the age of AI, what will we say?” The answer won’t be written by technology; it will be written by the deliberate, values-driven choices that we make when using it. • Visit AMBA & BGA’s online content hub at https://www.amba-bga.com/insights/ polimi-purposeday-oct26-cd to read the event review in full M
Art editor Sam Price Sub-editor Heather Ford
CORPORATE Director of business school engagement Debbie Kemp d.kemp@amba-bga.com
Head of business development – BGA Richard Turner r.turner@amba-bga.com Commercial relations director Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@amba-bga.com Senior marketing executive Edward Holmes Head of IT & data management Jack Villanueva
Head of events Carolyn Armsby
Colette Doyle , Editor, Ambition THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS
HR & employer relations manager Aarti Bhasin Finance & commercial director Catherine Walker
Chief executive officer Andrew Main Wilson
Executive assistant to the CEO Amy De La Cour <a.delacour@amba-bga.com ACCREDITATION ENQUIRIES accreditation@amba-bga.com
DAVID BACH
KATHARINA DE VITA
JASON EVANS
IVÁN FIGUEROA
SHERIF KAMEL
MARÍA DEL PILAR LOPEZ GONZALEZ
MEL BULL
GERALDINE MEYERS
MAIJA RENKO
JOSEPH SEKHAMPU
AMANDA SHANTZ
SANKAR SIVARAJAH
LARS ERLING OLSEN
Copyright 2026 by Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association ISSN 2631-6382 All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. While we take care to ensure that editorial is independent, accurate, objective and relevant for our readers, AMBA accepts no responsibility for reader dissatisfaction rising from the content of this publication. The opinions expressed and advice given are the views of individual commentators and do not necessarily represent the views of AMBA. Whenever an article in this publication is placed with the financial support of an advertiser, partner or sponsor, it will be marked as such. AMBA makes every opportunity to credit photographers but we cannot guarantee every published use of an image will have the contributor’s name. If you believe we have omitted a credit for your image, please email the editor.
Ambiti n
Ambition • ISSUE 5 • 2026 7
• ALL THE LATEST UPDATES FROM ACROSS AMBA’S GLOBAL NETWORK •
Business BRIEFING
Among the latest updates from AMBA-accredited institutions is an addition to one school’s AI-powered educational experiences, the use of Shakespearean characters in leadership case studies, a new take on gender-based stereotypes about emotional intelligence and how mental wellbeing can impact investment decisions. Tim Banerjee Dhoul and Ellen Buchan report
EXPANDING AI CAPABILITIES SET TO TRANSFORM LEARNING AND TEACHING ENVIRONMENTS
SCHOOL : INSEAD, France
INSEAD has launched a new series of business cases that harness AI to bring an interactive learning environment, personalised feedback and experiential learning to the case study method. The first three of the school’s Immersive AI Cases is now available commercially to educators and learners worldwide through INSEAD Publishing. “The future of management education will not be about choosing between human expertise and AI, but about bringing the two together in ways that deepen learning and strengthen judgement. We are putting this principle into practice by using AI and immersive technologies to transform what and how we teach, while keeping human insight and responsible leadership at the centre of learning,” stated INSEAD dean Francisco Veloso. The first cases span different industries and learning objectives. Plotting NordSea’s Strategic Course in the Global Renewable Energy Market explores strategy in the oil, energy and renewable environment sectors. Foodora and Flash (A & B): Copycats Made in Germany immerses participants in customer services, with a focus on entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, The Trend
that was Farfetch: A High Fashion, High-Risk Platform Strategy examines marketing in the luxury goods industry. The new cases bring the total number of AI-powered learning experiences at INSEAD to more than 40. The school’s Immersive Learning Portfolio now encompasses AI role-plays, VR experiences, simulations and immersive online modules. It estimates that portfolio items have already reached approximately 40,000 learners from 15 different countries around the world. “We are moving beyond experimenting with immersive technologies to building an ecosystem that can meaningfully reshape how management education is designed and delivered. Developing over 40 AI-powered experiences reflects our commitment to turning these innovations into meaningful and scalable learning experiences. Our goal is for these experiences to have an impact both within INSEAD and across a wider education community,” shared the school’s dean of innovation and research, Lily Fang. EB
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NEWS DIGEST
STUDY HIGHLIGHTS GENDER PAY GAP’S LACK OF PROGRESS
SCHOOL : EADA Business School, Spain
Female senior managers in Spain must work 47 additional days per year, on average, to match their male counterparts’ annual salary, according to a new report from EADA Business School and HR firm ICSA Grupo. The 20th edition of the Gender Pay Gap and Women’s Representation in Management Positions highlights the lack of progress in narrowing Spain’s gender pay gap across two decades. Drawing on more than 80,000 salary data points, the difference in pay commanded by men and women in senior management positions was found to be 13 per cent, which equates to the 47‑day figure in practical terms. This is wider than the 8.6 per cent gap found in the report’s inaugural edition in 2006. Female representation in senior management has increased moderately in the same 20-year timeframe, from 16.9 per cent to 18.6 per cent. “Some 20 years of measurement show that the system has progressed in terms of inclusion but has not fully transformed the criteria by which leadership is assessed and rewarded,” explained EADA professor Aline Masuda. “When female representation increases and the pay gap remains, we are facing a structural phenomenon. The challenge is no longer solely about access, but about how career paths are designed and how leadership is recognised within organisations.” Moreover, the new study underlines that the principal issue is not a lack of female talent. Female participation in EADA Business School’s executive education programmes hit 52 per cent in the 2025–2026 academic year. Meanwhile, it reached 59 per cent on the school’s global EMBA and 50 per cent on its international MBA. EB
WHERE SHAKESPEARE MEETS THE BUSINESS WORLD
SCHOOL : IEEM Escuela de Negocios Universidad de Montevideo, Uruguay
Four popular Shakespearean characters offer a handy manual to executive personas that continually crop up in case method class discussions, according to IEEM dean Joaquín Ramos. In a reflective piece written in memory of IESE professor Juan Carlos Vázquez-Dodero that appeared on the school’s website, Ramos emphasises how the cases of Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear support the teaching method’s means of helping students develop their decision-making. Hamlet, for example, puts off acting on the information that his uncle murdered his father and usurped the throne. In the boardroom, Ramos writes, this is the leader who constantly seeks more information where certainty is rare. Conversely, Othello kills his wife solely on the basis of circumstantial evidence and another man’s insinuations. “If everything is intuition, without robust analysis and data to back it up, it’s like a game of chance,” Ramos reasons. Meanwhile, Macbeth’s unerring belief in the witches’ prophecies is compared to Daniel Kahneman’s concept of “cognitive biases”. This leader reaches a conclusion and then constructs their analysis backwards to support it. Lastly, King Lear’s decision to disinherit the daughter who wouldn’t participate in a contest to publicly display her love for him is linked to leaders who consistently opt for proposals that align with their own interests and “surround themselves with flatterers who rarely question them”. When these common patterns of behaviour surface among case protagonists, Ramos notes, they help cultivate what Aristotle called phronesis , or practical prudence in the low-risk but real-tension environment of the business school classroom. TBD
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The oft-repeated belief that women have a higher emotional intelligence than men may be more complex than we think, according to a study led by Kemmy Business School’s Mary Hausfeld. “Our findings suggest that common assumptions about women and men’s emotional abilities are often too broad,” Hausfeld shared. “Rather than reinforcing stereotypes, the evidence points to a more nuanced picture in which gender differences vary depending on the emotional skill being examined and the context in which it is measured.” In an analysis of research spanning 600,000 participants across 76 countries, the study explored general emotional intelligence and three related abilities: recognising, understanding and regulating emotions. While women and girls scored higher overall for emotional intelligence and were better, on average, at recognising and understanding emotions, men and boys scored slightly higher when it came to regulating their own emotions. By analysing research over three decades, the study also found that the gap between women and men’s general emotional intelligence is smaller in more recent studies. Among children, gender differences in general emotional intelligence, emotion recognition and emotion regulation have all declined over time. These findings support the idea that changing social expectations and gender norms are influencing the development of emotional skills. “There is no simple answer to the question of whether women or men are more emotionally intelligent,” Hausfeld surmised, adding that the goal should be to recognise EQ “as a range of skills that can be developed in everyone.” TBD STUDY OFFERS A MORE NUANCED VIEW OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SCHOOL : Kemmy Business School University of Limerick, Ireland
HEC Montréal has partnered with the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) to launch a five-day programme on sustainability for business executives. The programme aims to combine HEC Montréal’s strength in executive education with United Nations University’s expertise in science and global issues. “Today’s leaders must make decisions in an environment where transformations are accelerating and intersecting. Executive education provides the space to step back, renew perspectives and turn knowledge into decisions,” declared Dominique Anglade, executive director of executive education at HEC Montréal. “With UNU-INWEH, we are bringing together leading-edge science, international perspectives and management realities to better prepare leaders to act amid uncertainty and lead change.” Topics on the certificate programme will include major environmental and economic transitions, resource management, polarisation dynamics, foresight and decision-making under uncertainty. “The major challenges of our time do not occur in isolation. They are deeply interconnected and require decision makers to make difficult choices. Science can inform these choices, provided it is understood, contextualised and connected to action,” reasoned UNU‑INWEH director Kaveh Madani. A recipient of the 2026 Stockholm Water Prize for his work on water governance, Madani’s research focuses on the interactions between human and environmental systems and the connections between science and decision-making. “By bringing scientific knowledge closer to leadership development, we seek to strengthen leaders’ ability to make sound, sustainable decisions,” he added. EB COMBINING SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE WITH EXECUTIVE EDUCATION TO DRIVE CHANGE SCHOOL : HEC Montréal, Canada
10 Ambition • ISSUE 5 • 2026
NEWS DIGEST
HOW A LEADER’S HISTORY OF MENTAL WELLBEING MAY IMPACT INVESTMENT DECISIONS
SCHOOL : Norwegian School of Economics (Norges Handelshøyskole, NHH), Norway
Leaders of SMEs who have experienced mental health problems often make less efficient investment decisions, according to a new study from NHH that highlights the importance of ensuring that decision-making does not rest with only a few individuals. The study found a small but consistent pattern among firms in Finland led by executives with a history of mental health illness: that they tended to invest too little in capital such as technology, equipment and buildings, while investing more in employees than might be deemed financially efficient. The researchers estimated that these firms’ investments were, on average, 4.8 per cent less efficient with regards to capital investment than those led by executives without a history of mental illness and 5.3 per cent less efficient in relation to labour decisions. “It is not surprising that mental health affects decision quality. What is interesting is how the effects vary across different types of investment,” stated associate professor in financial accounting at NHH and study co‑author Mariya Ivanova.
The study drew on data from more than 40,000 firms and 124,000 CEOs and board members. It found that 4.3 per cent of its sample had received a clinical diagnosis of mental disorder before taking up their position. Among this number, almost 60 per cent had anxiety and mood disorders, including depression, while 16 per cent cited a substance-related disorder. While investment inefficiency was found among SMEs, larger firms led by executives with a history of mental ill health did not produce statistically detectable differences. Such companies commonly possess more formal structures around major decisions and multiple decision makers, highlighting where SMEs should, according to Ivanova, focus their attention. “Top executives have long been seen as exceptionally resilient, which is why their mental health has received little attention,” Ivanova added. Yet a 2022 Deloitte survey indicated that 41 per cent of c-suite executives regularly feel stressed and 26 per cent regularly feel depressed. TBD
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing AMBA & BGA content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul at t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
Ambition • ISSUE 5 • 2026 11
In conversation with… David Bach
IMD Business School president David Bach talks to Ambition editor Colette Doyle about how competition forges resilience, why sustainability is fundamentally a leadership challenge and the benefits of cutting back on bureaucracy
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to take up the role at IMD “I grew up in Germany, but had the incredible opportunity to go to the US for college and graduate school – first in Connecticut and then in California. In San Francisco I met an amazing woman from Spain and we moved back to Europe together. “I took up my first faculty job at IE Business School in Madrid, where I was able not just to teach and do research, but also to get involved in programme management. My PhD was in political science, so it was a chance to understand what an MBA and business schools were all about. I really fell in love with the business of business schools. “What particularly appealed to me was combining teaching and research with the team-based, creative and hands-on work of directing programmes and innovating. I spent several years at IE, then eight years at Yale, before joining IMD six years ago, initially as dean of programmes & innovation and, for the past two years, as president. I still absolutely love that combination – being a faculty member while also developing and advancing the institution.” What have been some of your career highlights? “There have been many highlights, but what has always given me the greatest sense of impact is creating platforms for others: building something from which faculty, students and employers can benefit. “Three examples stand out in particular: the first was the IE Brown executive MBA programme, which combined the school’s strength in global management education with Brown University’s renown in the liberal arts. As somebody who went to the US to study liberal arts, the opportunity to marry those two worlds was very meaningful to me. “At Yale, I was one of the architects of the Global Network for Advanced Management, an idea that [American economist and former dean of the Yale School of Management] Ted Snyder had come up with, bringing together around
30 business schools. Thousands of students have since studied at another business school through the network. As a former international student myself, that was incredibly rewarding. “Then I joined IMD in 2020, when the pandemic had upended management education – and executive education in particular. Another highlight was working with colleagues and clients to rethink and reinvent IMD’s pedagogical model. “What those experiences have in common is working with teams, being creative and doing something that hasn’t been done before – creating platforms from which others can benefit long beyond my own involvement.” In the 21st century, with the rise of alternative providers such as LinkedIn and Coursera, how can the MBA continue to stand out and distinguish itself in the marketplace? “There’s plenty of competition among top business schools, but I don’t think LinkedIn and Coursera are really our main competitors. It’s a little like asking whether a scooter or a bike is in competition with a car. Sure, they both get you from A to B, but they’re very different things. “There is so much content available today, but business schools do a lot more than provide content. They identify talented people and bring them together in intense, group‑based learning experiences, where human connection becomes incredibly important. They also certify and credential learning in a way that is recognised. “I’ve been doing this for more than 20 years and every couple of years it seems business schools are about to close down because of some new technological, geopolitical or economic development. I don’t want to make light of those developments or the competition they create, but business schools have been remarkably resilient because we’ve continued to innovate and respond to change. Competition is a good thing – it makes sure we continue to challenge ourselves to do better.”
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INTERVIEW WITH THE DEAN
BIOGRAPHY
David Bach is the president of IMD Business School, located in Lausanne, Switzerland, a position he has held since September 2024. He is focused on strengthening the institution’s global impact through learning innovation and excellence in degree and executive education, as well as applied thought leadership. In recognition of his contribution to business education, he was named the 2026 International Educator of the Year by the Academy of International Business. Previously, Bach held the position of IMD’s dean of innovation & programmes, following his role as deputy dean at Yale School of Management, where he led the expansion of the school’s degree programmes and the creation of Yale Centre Beijing. He is also one of the principal architects of the Global Network for Advanced Management, an alliance of leading business schools across five continents; moreover, he joined GMAC (the Graduate Management Admission Council)’s board of directors in 2025. As Nestlé professor of strategy & political economy, he prepares leaders to address the political and societal forces reshaping businesses today. Bach holds a BA magna cum laude from Yale University and an MA and PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.
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How has management education evolved since you started out as an associate dean almost 20 years ago? “I would highlight three main shifts. First, management education is no longer just about the MBA. Business schools now offer a broader portfolio of specialised master’s degrees, part-time courses and technology‑enabled programmes. “Second is globalisation. Around 20 years ago, a handful of top business schools in the US and a few in Europe attracted students from around the world. Now there are incredible schools throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America competing for talent with strong value propositions. Management education has become a truly global marketplace, driving innovation in curricula and programme design. “The third change is on the career side. Graduating from a top business school no longer immediately guarantees an extraordinary job with a strong return on investment. Competition is fierce – not only among business school
You came into management education with a PhD in political science; how does that political economy lens shape the way you are equipping executives with the skills to navigate today’s fragmented, post-globalisation world? “I think management education – particularly in the West – has done leaders a big disservice over several decades by painting a picture of business as primarily an economic agent. Effectively, we told our students: focus on the customer, focus on the shareholder and ignore the rest. Everything else is a distraction, especially politics. “That’s just not helpful, because organisations are political actors. They make incredibly important decisions that shape people’s lives. I’ve always believed that business leaders need to understand the social and political context in which they operate – my research and teaching have focused on giving them the tools needed to think about that context systematically and use it to shape their strategies. “Today, I engage with leaders around how to navigate the geopolitical context – from the politics of the
graduates, but with people who have pursued other forms of education or developed other skills and credentials. So business schools have to work incredibly hard to help graduates stand out.” Given the growing corporate and political backlash against diversity initiatives, how can business
energy transition to trade and heightened security concerns. Of course, I wish the world were a little simpler and leaders didn’t have to spend quite as much time worrying about politics. But you can get good at this; some of the more successful leaders today understand the political context and
IMD prides itself on how quickly, flexibly and pragmatically it can adapt to address the evolving issues faced by global enterprises
can articulate the value of an enterprise to a community, a country or a region. That demand is not going to go away.” The impact of AI on postgraduate management education has been well documented; how is IMD adapting its curriculum to cultivate those uniquely human capabilities that technology cannot replace? “I’m very careful about declaring definitively what AI cannot do and which human skills and abilities it cannot replace. We’re weaving AI into our programmes as a set of tools, while also discussing what the technology is currently capable of and what that means for society, business management and leadership. We’re trying to figure this out together. “What we know for sure is that there is going to be a lot of change and leaders will have to continuously adapt. The ability to learn and be agile is perhaps the most important skill we can instil in our students and executive education participants. Critical judgment and the ability to relate to other humans remain incredibly important, but AI can also be a powerful tool for framing and helping you make decisions.
schools best prepare future leaders to embed DE&I principles in a robust and impactful way? “There is clearly a backlash against DE&I in some parts of the world, but it’s important not to overstate or generalise this. It’s not happening everywhere equally and it doesn’t change the fact that diversity and inclusion remain incredibly important. “Diverse and inclusive teams perform better. Your leadership team ought to reflect the diversity of your staff, your customer base and your global footprint. You cannot be an effective leader in the 21st century if you don’t appreciate the value of diversity, cannot create inclusive teams in which everybody can contribute, or don’t understand how people’s different life paths have shaped how they approach issues. “What I think we’re seeing less of – and it’s a good thing in my opinion – is a sort of performative DE&I. There is instead a recognition that diverse and inclusive organisations perform at a higher level. Leaders need to understand how to bring people together and leverage different backgrounds for greater creativity and impact.”
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INTERVIEW WITH THE DEAN
“We’re using AI through our Transversal Skills initiative to help students understand what they’re good at, bolster their analytical insights and communicate ideas. At the same time, the human element remains central through projects, role‑playing and classroom discussions. We’re developing leaders who can work with and shape AI, rather than leaders who will be replaced by it.” IMD is heavily practice-oriented and deeply connected to senior corporate leadership. What are the biggest advantages of leading an institution that operates so closely alongside the real-time needs of global enterprise? “IMD was founded by businesses to develop leaders who can transform organisations and to partner with global enterprises on leadership development. “That has huge advantages, particularly during periods of rapid change. To remain relevant, we need to be at the cutting edge of thinking about how AI is transforming work, while helping leaders navigate geopolitical fragmentation and trade wars and departments because the issues global enterprises confront aren’t accounting, marketing, finance or strategy challenges – they are innovation, transformation and leadership challenges. All of them cut across traditional academic disciplines. understand what Gen Z is looking for in the workplace. “It also affects how we’re set up. We have no academic “Our executive education focus also means we’re exposed to the most volatile part of the sector. Travel disruptions can prevent participants from coming to our programmes, while economic downturns or rising energy prices can quickly affect leadership development budgets. “I sometimes get a little jealous of peers at schools with much bigger degree programmes because their revenues are more stable. Then again, I know they’re a little jealous when they see how quickly, flexibly and pragmatically we can work with business leaders on really interesting challenges – and how little bureaucracy we have, which helps us be much more nimble.” The topic of sustainability has been embedded into MBA programmes around the world; how integral is it, do you think, to the concept of leadership? “I believe sustainability is fundamentally a leadership challenge. For the most part, we have the technologies to
decarbonise the global economy and ways of preserving water and biodiversity. What we lack is leadership in business and government to create the conditions to deploy these solutions at scale. That is the real tragedy and urgency of this moment. “I’m 100 per cent convinced we’re going to get to a low or zero-carbon economy, where the value of nature – including its economic value – is reflected in the decisions we make. We’re going to get there not because it’s the right thing to do – we’re going to get there because it’s the smartest, most efficient and economically beneficial thing to do. The low or zero-carbon economy is a superior equilibrium, not just for people in post-industrial countries but around the world, the problem is it’s taking too long to get there. “Senior executives, board members, asset owners and asset allocators need to understand that the longer we wait, the more opportunity we miss. With the right leadership, I’m confident we can create a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous world.”
With all the economic and geopolitical upheaval that the world is currently facing, do you believe there is still room for optimism when it comes to the future of the global business school sector? “Education is inherently optimistic. People come to
The school operates from Lausanne, but extends its reach with strategic hubs in Singapore, Shenzhen and Cape Town
us from all over the world with different backgrounds and ideas. They come because they have hope and because they’re optimistic about the future. They want to change something; they might want to take their business to the next level, start an enterprise or pursue a career in another part of the world. You undertake education because you have some expectation of positive outcomes in the future. “Being at IMD and seeing how seriously so many leaders think about the future has made me more optimistic. There is a caricature of senior business leaders as being selfish and caring only about their salary, bonus and profits. That’s just not true – the overwhelming majority of leaders I meet want to do the right thing for all their stakeholders. Very few people wake up in the morning thinking: ‘How can I do real damage today?’ People want to make a positive difference. “I remain bullish and optimistic about the future. Business schools play an important catalytic role in helping people get better at making that positive difference, overcome challenges and make it happen. That’s why I feel so fortunate to be working at IMD at this point in time.”
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Business schools are teaching students to use AI, but the evidence across the board suggests they want something entirely different from the technology; something that already aligns with a strength that institutions possess in abundance What learners really want from AI
The warning sign leaders shouldn’t miss Beneath these findings is a quieter concern that should give any dean pause for thought. Among Gen Z, roughly half of whom use AI weekly, excitement for the technology has fallen 14 points in a single year while frustration has grown. Most striking, eight in 10 now believe AI is likely to make it harder for them to learn. This alarm is not coming from the sceptics. It is coming from the daily users. Employers are pulling in the same direction. What they consistently ask for – problem solvers, strategic thinkers, strong communicators, people with initiative, emotional intelligence and coachability – are dispositional capacities, not technical ones. None can be conferred by a prompt-engineering workshop. They are cultivated through experience, feedback and the kind of productive struggle that well-designed programmes exist to protect. Students and employers are pointing at the same destination from opposite directions: the development of thinking. AI matters enormously – but in service of that thinking, not as a substitute for it. The good news for business schools If that sounds like a tall order, there is a genuinely reassuring reframe available: the prerequisite for using AI well is not technical fluency; it is thinking well – the very capability experienced faculty have spent their careers developing. Means describes an instructor of 40 years who arrived at an AI workshop sceptical and
E very business school is under pressure to answer the same question: “how do we prepare students for a world reshaped by artificial intelligence (AI)?” The default response has been to treat it as a tools problem by adding a prompt-engineering module, offering a certification, or bolting an AI course onto the curriculum. However, evidence from three independent studies points to the need for a different approach. The studies include a GMAC survey of more than 4,000 graduate management candidates across 145 countries; a Gallup study of 1,500 people aged between 14 and 29; and a California State University survey of over 80,000 students. Across different populations and different methods, one strikingly consistent signal emerges. What the research says Demand for AI in the curriculum has risen sharply, from roughly 17 per cent of candidates
wanting it in their ideal programme in 2022 to 50 per cent in 2025. That much is expected. The revealing finding is how they want it. Asked to rank a list of options, students placed hands‑on experience in realistic business simulations first, at 66 per cent, followed by AI applied to business strategy (62 per cent) and decision-making (58 per cent). Training in prompt writing and everyday AI tasks ranked lowest, at 46 per cent. The pattern is unambiguous. Students want AI embedded in the genuine intellectual work of their discipline, not delivered as a standalone skills course. They are least interested in being trained as proficient tool users – which is precisely what many programmes have rushed to build. As Tawnya Means, founder and principal at Inspire Higher Ed and author of The Collaboration Chronicle: Human+AI in Education , puts it, the sector has almost inverted what students told us they wanted.
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SPONSORED CONTENT
them worse off once they switch off. In education, the aim must be the reverse – to produce graduates who are genuinely more capable afterwards, not more dependent. This is the conviction behind CESIM’s approach. For more than 25 years, CESIM has built business simulations in which students learn by making real decisions in teams, under uncertainty and with consequences. Its AI layer keeps the cognitive work where it belongs. A Tireless Teaching Assistant takes on the administrative load – analysing results, surfacing who contributed what and supporting feedback – freeing faculty for the human side of teaching. A deliberately Socratic AI Coach is context- aware, alert to where each team sits and how they compare, yet it withholds answers. Ask how to improve your sales figures and it helps you reason your way there; that friction is the point. At Telecom Paris, a cohort of 200-plus engineering students who are more than capable of writing their own agents were told to use AI freely during a simulation. They then sat a pen-and-paper assessment with no tools, where faculty used the AI Assistant to generate team-specific questions so every group faced a unique narrative. Students used AI to deepen their thinking, but could not offload the learning itself, because the assessment demanded real knowledge. A faculty that had feared AI would erode learning found how much it could
left invigorated, realising that four decades of knowing exactly where students get stuck was his most valuable asset in making the technology useful. Deep expertise, it turned out, let a late adopter outpace colleagues who had used AI superficially and stopped. The word “stopped” is the crux. Most people take one or two exchanges with a model, accept or reject the output and move on. The real value emerges through persistent iteration: pushing back, interrogating and bringing your own judgment to what returns. The first response is never the final response. Treating AI as a thinking partner rather than an answering machine is itself a skill and one business schools are uniquely equipped to model. The practical starting point is unglamorous: take a real problem with genuine stakes and explain it the way you would brief a thoughtful new colleague. Then interrogate what comes back by asking: “What did it get wrong?”, “What did it assert without evidence?” and “What is missing?” You are not asking AI to solve the problem but to help you think better. From principle to programme design The design question that follows is how to build this into the curriculum rather than bolt it on. Neuroscientist Vivienne Ming warns that too many technology products make people more capable only while they are using them and leave
“Students want AI embedded in the genuine intellectual work of their discipline, not delivered as a standalone skills course”
These themes were explored at the CESIM Elite Instructor Workshop 2026, where Tawnya Means delivered the keynote address. Means writes about pairing human creativity with artificial intelligence to transform classroom practice in The Collaboration Chronicle: Human+AI in Education on Substack. CESIM provides multilingual, multidisciplinary business simulations that help educators improve student engagement and employability. The theoretical foundation of the business simulation methodology is experiential learning and CESIM’s mission is to make this available and affordable to the widest possible audience. To see what context-aware, simulation‑based AI looks like in your own programmes, visit cesim.com.
add when the design assesses the process , not just the output. The same work, better supported The underlying thread is simple: the tools are new but the work is not. Business education has always been about developing judgment, evaluation, oversight and human relationships – capacities that no model will replace. Used thoughtfully, AI serves that mission. However, if AI is used as a shortcut, it quietly erodes it. For schools weighing up how to respond, the most strategic move may not be another tools course but doubling down on thinking – and choosing technology that does the same.
cesim.com
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As climate change, AI and geopolitical tension reshape the world, business schools are being asked to do more than simply produce high‑performing graduates. With executive education able to prepare leaders to drive meaningful change, Nottingham Business School’s Mel Bull outlines how institutions can partner with organisations to design programmes that serve the regions around them Classrooms that change communities
A s societal challenges evolve, so too does the value of business schools. Around the world, organisations in both the public and private sectors are grappling with complexities arising from climate change, the adoption of AI and geopolitical tension. In this era of uncertainty, schools are increasingly called upon to contribute more meaningfully to the societies and regions in which they operate as partners in progress. Executive education can act as a powerful vehicle for achieving this ambition. While undergraduate and many master’s-level programmes are suited to the needs of the next generation of leaders, executive courses provide current leaders with the necessary skills to implement change in real time. When tailored to local or regional needs, leadership training enables business schools to drive meaningful change beyond the business ecosystem. Re-imagining executive education Executive education has evolved from improving organisational performance to helping leaders manage digital and sustainability transformations. Now, the universal nature of many such challenges is feeding the demand for executive training beyond the traditional business audience. Public services, local authorities and voluntary organisations are also having to deal with issues stemming from constrained resources, systemic complexity and the need for innovation.
Business schools are well-positioned to help, given their access to the latest academic research and multidisciplinary expertise.
By co-creating executive courses that serve cross-sector needs, they can help regions build the necessary leadership capacity to tackle issues such as health inequalities, sustainability transitions and economic renewal. At Nottingham Business School, we have put this into practice in the new East Midlands Leadership Transformation Programme (EMLTP), a regional initiative that aims to strengthen public service leadership. The course’s foundations lie in earlier collaborations with the local community. The Nottingham Leadership Transformation Programme (NLTP) was launched by the business school in partnership with Nottingham City Council in 2022. Since then, the programme has supported the leadership development of more than 90 leaders from Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service, Nottinghamshire Police and the Integrated Care Board, as well as the City Council itself. The programme was built on an understanding that complex challenges must be met with collaborative solutions. We brought together middle-to-senior leaders from different public sector bodies to learn together, address shared challenges and develop the skills they need to lead across organisational boundaries. Participants engaged in 10 days of classroom learning, supported by action learning sets that allowed them to test and refine their
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EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
combines classroom sessions, action-learning sets and network- building activities that help participants apply learning in practice. • The need to provide opportunities for participants to continue their learning journey. Executive education is built on the principle of lifelong learning: ie however much experience you gain in industry, it’s important to continually seek opportunities to refresh your knowledge and skills. For this reason, we integrate the EMLTP within our broader portfolio of executive education offerings, enabling participants to gain credits toward a postgraduate certificate in Leadership & Management Practice, or even an executive MBA. This creates a professional pathway that recognises individual development, as well as societal impact. • Designing a programme that aims to have societal impact often requires business schools to maintain a local or regional focus. At NBS, designing a programme that caters specifically to the needs of leaders in the East Midlands public service landscape ensures the content stays relevant for our participants. This also helps to maximise engagement, as participants share a stake in the region’s wellbeing, which heightens their motivation to collaborate and apply what they have learned. • Measure the tangible results of participants’ projects. Societal impact is at its most valuable when it is visible and can be evidenced. This benefits the business school in terms of justifying funding, deepening engagement with key players in the regional economy and providing material during accreditation processes that measure societal impact. The aim of the programme is clear: to build a sustainable, integrated leadership culture that drives better decision-making, efficient delivery and enhanced team performance across the public sector. Participants have measurably improved their leadership skills and applied new tools in decision-making. Several leaders have influenced tangible results through policy changes, streamlined processes, the implementation of transformation initiatives and financial savings, reinforcing a culture of continuous improvement and sustainable growth within their organisations. It also enables faculty to refine the programme and maximise future impact. Cultivating leaders for cross-sector collaboration As global challenges grow ever more interdependent, from public health crises to sustainability transitions, leadership will increasingly require cross-sector collaboration and systems thinking. Business schools offer a blend of analytical insight and experiential learning opportunities that put them in the ideal position to cultivate leaders with these abilities. Executive education is a powerful vehicle for achieving this ambition, equipping current leaders to implement change in real time. This immediacy and relevance can be amplified through tailored, co-created and purpose-driven programmes that balance individual progression with community outcomes. The advent of these types of courses is already a major landmark in defining how business education can serve society.
BIOGRAPHY Dr Mel Bull is the director of executive education at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University. Her focus is on developing the business school’s executive education offerings to ensure NBS provides research-informed development opportunities regionally, nationally and internationally
leadership approaches in real time. The programme then culminated in a conference where participants presented consultancy projects to senior stakeholders in the community. These projects have addressed issues including homelessness and independent living, helping shape local policy. The success of this model contributed to the announcement in October last year that the programme would be expanded to serve the entire East Midlands region. The new EMLTP will welcome participants from local councils, emergency services and health bodies across the wider area, reflecting the appetite for leadership development that delivers tangible benefits to society. Initiatives like this capitalise on the strengths of business schools in breaking down silos and encouraging leaders across multiple fields to work together. In doing so, they come to understand their own needs in relation to those of the region, cultivating an ethos of cooperation that helps all groups to achieve positive results for communities in the area. “The only way we deliver lasting, meaningful improvements across the public sector for our communities is by working together – that’s why developing our leaders using a collaborative partnership approach is so important,” comments Nottingham City Council chief executive Adrian Smith. Key ingredients for societal impact Our experience running the NLTP, and now the expanded regional programme, has offered several valuable design lessons for business schools seeking to align executive education with societal impact, as outlined below. • It is essential to work closely with local and regional stakeholders. Adopting a collaborative approach to course design ensures that content speaks directly to local priorities, while also building trust and ownership among the participating organisations. • Impact-driven programmes go beyond theory and embrace experiential learning opportunities. Course design should embed real-world challenges and allow participants to work on ongoing regional issues. Leaders need training to apply their insights to create solutions that matter to their communities in real time. • Projects that produce tangible recommendations can inform policy or service design, amplifying the programme’s societal impact. However, schools should avoid focusing exclusively on one approach to learning. A pathway that blends several modes of learning offers the most enriching experience. The EMLTP
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