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 monthly magazine of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
Issue 72 MAY 2024
Females to the fore AMBA panel debate on how to break down barriers for women in academia
READY FOR THE REVOLUTION Neoma navigates the ways schools can brace themselves for challenges posed by AI
WHY SHARING IS CARING Iteso examines the numerous benefits of employee ownership schemes
PERFORMING UNDER PRESSURE Goa study reveals how faculty cope with the stress caused by admissions interviews
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Issue 72 | MAY 2024
NEWS & INS IGHT
REGULARS
EDI TOR’ S LET TER
From academia to business, female empowerment is an ongoing issue. Women from both worlds discuss how best to grow the talent pool SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS An introduction to the recently accredited School of Business and Governance at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia VIEW FROM THE TOP In a dispatch from Poland, CEO Andrew Main Wilson urges schools to proudly promote their accreditation
BUSINESS BRIEFING The latest selection of updates features research from institutions in Switzerland, Brazil, the UK, Italy and the Netherlands
COVER STORY WOMEN AT WORK
OPINION
Six female deans from business schools based in five different countries discuss the challenges they face as women in today’s higher education landscape and how these can best be tackled STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS This year’s winner of the AMBA & BGA award for leadership shares her views on how business can enable more women to reach the highest levels of management
LEADERSHIP How women’s unique perspectives on management, coupled with their innate capabilities, can foster innovation and transform industries
Ambition MAY 2024 | 3
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Issue 72 | MAY 2024
FEATURES
28 | SHARING THE WEALTH Iteso’s Gonzalo Hernández explores the benefits of giving staff shares in a business as a means of boosting employee commitment and organisational performance
20 | IN PRAISE OF PURPOSE
Dean Federico Frattini describes how Polimi Graduate School of Management has revamped its brand and ethos to put purpose at the forefront of its programme portfolio and outlook
32 | GET ON BOARD MBA students must be introduced to the social side of holding a senior leadership position, as well as its task-and-knowledge base, says Essec professor David Sluss
36 | FEELING THE PRESSURE Karman Khanna from Goa Institute of Management presents an insightful study
of how stress can build up among faculty members involved in the admissions interview process
24 | A CHANGE OF PACE Associate dean for digital at Neoma Business School Alain Goudey outlines the ways in which generative AI can fundamentally reshape the business education landscape
Ambition | MAY 2024 | 5
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EDITOR’S LETTER
A WOMAN’S PLACE
EDITORIAL Head of editorial Colette Doyle c.doyle@amba-bga.com Content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
Female leaders are increasingly becoming a part of the establishment but there’s still a long way to go
J
Art editor Sam Price Sub-editor Heather Ford
ames Brown famously sang “ It’s a Man’s World ” but that was way back in 1966, so things thankfully have changed since then – although not as much as they probably should have. That was certainly the consensus when I recently convened a group of female deans from leading business schools around the world to explore what it’s like to be a woman in academia nowadays – see our cover story for more details. Sadly, it seems the ‘leaky pipeline’ phenomenon is still alive and kicking: according to She Figures, part of the Publications Office of the EU, women only represent around 30 per cent of researchers and 20 per cent of full professorships in Europe; in addition, just 20 per cent of research organisation leaders are women. Our debate covered the strategies these business school leaders have found most effective in navigating their roles; these include staying true to your core values and taking a mission-driven approach. In terms of growing the number of female deans, the panel noted that it was essential for women at the top to “send the elevator back down” and highlighted the importance of relatable role models, as well as keeping an eye out for female talent already in the organisation. The winner of this year’s AMBA & BGA leadership award, Lorna Conn, who we interview in this issue, is a perfect example of a female who has excelled in management. She is also an advisory board member of the 30% Club in her native Ireland, an organisation that actively seeks to increase gender diversity on boards and senior management teams. Lorna is big on succession planning and says companies need to look harder to find female candidates in roles traditionally held by men. Our guest column from leadership coach Jo Wagstaff also touches on the characteristics that female leaders possess, such as empathy and resilience, which can transform industries, fostering innovation and inclusivity. And one last thing about that James Brown song – it was co-written by a woman.
Insight, content and PR manager Ellen Buchan e.buchan@amba-bga.com CORPORATE Commercial relations director Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@amba-bga.com
Head of marketing and communications Leonora Clement
Senior marketing executive Edward Holmes
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Head of events Carolyn Armsby
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Colette Doyle , Editor, Ambition
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Chief executive o cer Andrew Main Wilson
Executive assistant to the CEO Amy Youngs a.youngs@amba-bga.com ACCREDITATION ENQUIRIES accreditation@amba-bga.com
MARI AVARMAA
CATHY CASSELL
MARION DEBRUYNE
CATHERINE DUGGAN
FEDERICO FRATTINI
ALAIN GOUDEY
GONZALO HERNÁNDEZ
KARMAN KHANNA
WENDY LORETTO
DELPHINE MANCEAU
DAVID SLUSS
BARBARA STÖTTINGER
Copyright 2024 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 MAY 2024 | 7
BUSINESS BRIEFING
All the latest updates from across AMBA’s global network
The benefits of blockchain technology, what members of Generation Z truly value, the less obvious dangers of office gossip and the trouble with narcissistic leaders are all included in Ambition ’s latest selection of news and research. Compiled by Tim Banerjee Dhoul, Ellen Buchan and Colette Doyle
THE CULT OF NARCISSISM: SELF-CENTRED LEADERS AT WORK
SCHOOL : Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam COUNTRY : Netherlands
“If your new boss gives you the idea that all problems are easily solved, you’re relieved and your trust in the leader grows. Until that person soon exhibits abusive supervision – people are ridiculed and berated and that charming leader turns out not to be so charming after all,” de Hoogh commented. The professor wants her research to help people see why it’s better to choose a different type of leader. “Power often attracts the wrong people,” de Hoogh declared, adding, “the CEO of the future does not stand above people but beside them; they share power, love collaboration, delegate responsibility to others and do not pretend to know everything. “A narcissist is so charming and self-assured that many people don’t critically examine their work experience. By selecting candidates based on other qualities and assessing whether a leader connects people, you get CEOs who perform well,” she concluded. CD
Research undertaken by Amsterdam Business School (ABS) professor Annebel de Hoogh demonstrates why society has a preference for narcissistic leaders. “Something very strange happens in our minds when we get to choose a leader. We think we should choose a dominant leader, the ‘king of the jungle’ type. It gives us a good feeling, as we trust people who are like that,” explained de Hoogh. However, this may not be the best option, according to the ABS professor: “In fact, we should avoid them because they are not as smart as we think and in the long run, they do more harm than good. Narcissistic leaders have a negative impact on the entire company.” De Hoogh says that narcissists are often charming individuals who claim they can solve problems quickly. Once they are in charge, they hinder the free exchange of information and act as if they have a solution for everything.
8 | Ambition |
MAY 2024
NEWS & INSIGHT
A study by researchers at Fundação Getulio Vargas’ São Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP) suggests that blockchain technology has significant potential to enhance public services and streamline administrative processes. This potential revolves around blockchain’s ability to record transactions in a transparent and tamper-resistant manner. It does this by using a decentralised ledger and leveraging a shared database that links data together by cryptography. The study is a global affair, authored by FGV EAESP researcher Maciel Queiroz together with TBS Education’s Samuel Fosso Wamba, Serge-Lopez Wamba-Taguimdje at the University of Côte d’Azur and Qihui Lu of the School of Business Administration at Zhejiang Gongshang University. It has been published in Government Information Quarterly . To investigate the impact of blockchain technologies on government processes, the researchers analysed 167 projects. In this, the technology was found to increase administrative efficiency and the capacity for more open government processes, while still leaving room for future innovations to be incorporated. The research also highlighted further benefits in relation to reduced bureaucracy, discretion and corruption. Improvements in automation, transparency, auditing and accountability of information also yielded a rise in confidence among businesses and the public. The researchers pointed to blockchain’s ability to promote a more citizen- centric agenda in the public sector and offer a decentralised approach to development. However, use of the technology is not without its challenges in this context, according to the study. Issues requiring the attention of would-be implementors include difficulties integrating blockchain technology into existing systems, training employees to use it and ensuring that any new system is aligned with current regulatory systems. EB PUBLIC SERVICES COULD BE TRANSFORMED BY BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL : São Paulo School of Business Administration Fundação Getulio Vargas COUNTRY : Brazil
King’s Business School has announced its intention to offer a new programme in a bid to raise environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards across the hospitality sector. The programme is to be offered in conjunction with EHL Hospitality Business School and the Energy and Environment Alliance (EEA). In coming together, the organisations aim to attract hospitality managers, investors and asset owners with their combined know-how in leadership training, ESG measurement and the hospitality sector’s needs. “The hospitality sector has a truly global reach and those who manage hotels need a unique mix of skills and knowledge from the very technical, to the very human. By bringing the expertise of our three organisations together, we hope to leave our participants confident and excited about the opportunity they have to help their staff and customers to flourish and contribute to a healthier planet,” explained vice-dean for engagement and executive education at King’s Business School Giana Eckhardt. Programme participants will be given an overview of the science of climate change and a grounding in its financial implications, including new regulatory requirements and accurate data collection. The aim, according to EHL Hospitality Business School associate dean Stéphane Haddad, is to enable participants to “spearhead revolutionary projects in daily operations, promoting sustainability, cutting down on waste and building lasting value for their companies and communities”. The new programme will build on an existing offering from King’s Business School and the EEA that covers strategic and financial aspects of ESG for hospitality sector leaders. That programme is currently delivered over four months of online webinars and one full day at King’s Business School in London. “ESG is rapidly becoming an extremely important issue for anyone involved in hospitality,” remarked EEA chief executive Ufi Ibrahim, before expressing her confidence that the new collaboration will become “the go-to education on this subject.” TBD POSITIVE CHANGE FOR HOSPITALITY AMID PLANS FOR ESG PROGRAMME SCHOOL : King’s Business School, King’s College London COUNTRY : UK
Ambition | MAY 2024 | 9
STUDY PAINTS NEW PICTURE OF GENERATION Z’S VALUES
SCHOOL : SDA Bocconi School of Management COUNTRY : Italy
Simplicity, stability, sociality and sustainability – these are the four words chosen to define the most common core values held by members of Generation Z, in a new study from SDA Bocconi School of Management. “Gen Z is embedded in a unique sociocultural context, shaped by geopolitical, health-related and climatic uncertainty, rapid technological advancements, global interconnectedness and unprecedented access to information,” declared SDA Bocconi marketing professor Fabrizio Zerbini. “This can lead to a certain degree of anxiety and the ability to soothe it can be key to a successful commercial offer,” he added. The value of simplicity relates to Gen Z members’ predilection for sourcing the shortest routes and interest in using a single app for all mobility service providers. Stability speaks to their inclination towards risk aversion and emphasis on routines, while sociality refers to their tendency to include quality time with loved ones as part of their definition of ‘luxury’. The last value relates to a commonly avowed commitment to sustainability. However, the caveat is that the study also found members do not always act in accordance with this commitment until they have children of their own. This picture of Generation Z’s outlook is based on the work of SDA Bocconi’s Smart & Sustainable Mobility Lab, a research arm that seeks to uncover changes to socioeconomic behaviours and habits relating to the short, medium and long-distance movement of people and goods. It surveyed 8,137 individuals aged between 18 and 30 and conducted interviews with 42 individuals based in 15 different countries. In addition, more than 100,000 captions from Instagram and TikTok were scraped using machine-learning algorithms. “The evidence we collected shows that Gen Z individuals change their behaviour not only according to their parental status but also according to whether they are students or workers. This suggests the need for further analysis and, perhaps, for a reconsideration of the generation’s narrative,” surmised Zerbini. TBD
New research indicates that gossiping at work can be bad for your career. Instead of making you a go-to person in the office for the latest news, it is said to hinder your ability to climb the corporate ladder. The study stems from a three-stage experiment. The first stage surveyed people on their reactions and perceptions to a scenario involving a gossiping colleague. A gossiper’s gender was then changed to assess how this affected participants’ perceptions of their morality. The third stage delved into real incidents of gossiping that had taken place in respondents’ workplaces. Overall, gossipers were viewed negatively and often socially excluded. For example, they were removed from social media groups and had decreased communication with the rest of the group. The potential impact on career progression is also stark, as survey participants were more likely to give gossipers lower performance ratings and reduced bonuses. In terms of gender, women were found to hold a more negative view of workplace gossipers than men, on average. “Gossiping is fairly common in all workplaces. Whether it’s a small comment about someone’s work, or something more personal and less work-related, we’ve all engaged in it either through gossiping ourselves or hearing someone gossip,” said Maria Kakarika, associate professor in leadership and organisational behaviour at Durham University Business School. “However, it is highly likely that gossiping can be reduced in the workplace if people are aware that it reveals as much about the gossiper as it does about the subject of their gossip. This workplace gossiping can have real negative impacts on career progression.” To counteract its impact, the study recommends helping employees to understand the negative consequences of gossiping and how it might impact their careers. The research was carried out by Durham University Business School in conjunction with France’s Neoma Business School. EB WHISPER IT SOFTLY… HOW WORKPLACE GOSSIP CAN STIFLE CAREER GROWTH SCHOOL : Durham University Business School COUNTRY : UK
10 | Ambition | MAY 2024
NEWS & INSIGHT
ARE CHILDREN OF DIVORCE BETTER ENTREPRENEURS? SCHOOL : School of Management, University of St Gallen COUNTRY : Switzerland
Experiencing parental divorce as a child can spur entrepreneurial success as an adult, depending on the level of your parents’ education, according to new research from St Gallen’s Swiss Research Institute of Small Business. Exploring the effects of divorce on a child’s subsequent entrepreneurial career, researchers found a mixed picture. While disadvantages predominated for people with highly educated parents, advantages tended to dominate for people with less educated guardians. The advantages centred on the idea that children of divorce become better equipped at fending for themselves. “Our results show that, on average, children who experience parental divorce develop an increased conviction that they can successfully overcome difficult situations and challenges on their own,” explained co-author Isabella Hatak. “Parental divorce appears to promote children’s independence and maturity, which means that their increased self‑efficacy will benefit them later in their entrepreneurial careers.” The downsides were found to be more prevalent among children from privileged family backgrounds. “A parental divorce can lead to these children losing their privileges, putting them in the same restricted situation that less
privileged children often experience even without a parental divorce,” reasoned lead author Mateja Andric. The privileges alluded to here include greater financial resources and support of a child’s learning. The implication is that divorce merely levels the playing field slightly in these cases, with the children of highly educated parents more likely to succeed as entrepreneurs in general terms. This makes supporting people from disadvantaged backgrounds essential to any programmes promoting entrepreneurship, the researchers say. There are also words of advice for parents going through a divorce, as relayed by Andric: “They should proactively invest in the child’s education, while at the same time taking care not to overprotect them after the divorce. This will allow the child to use the challenging post-divorce period as an opportunity to develop greater independence and self-reliance, which will increase their chances of success in entrepreneurship later on.” TBD
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing AMBA & BGA’s content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul at t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
Ambition | MAY 2024 | 11
Ambition editor Colette Doyle recently assembled a select group of female deans representing schools across the world to discuss what it feels like to be a woman in academia nowadays, discover the specific challenges that they face and learn how best to tackle them. In association with BlueSky Education Women work at
12 | Ambition | MAY 2024
T he ‘leaky pipeline’ phenomenon describes the progressive loss of female faculty as they advance through their careers. Women start strong in many fields, but their numbers dwindle at higher levels, particularly, though not exclusively, in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths). Factors contributing to the leak include lack of work/life balance support, a pressure to choose between career and family and a culture that can sometimes feel unwelcoming. Although females represent approximately half of PhD holders, their presence decreases as they go up the academic ladder. According to She Figures, part of the Publications Office of the EU, women only represent around 30 per cent of researchers and 20 per cent of full professorships in Europe; in addition, just 20 per cent of research organisation leaders are women. This phenomenon is intertwined with the ‘glass ceiling’ effect, as the under-representation of women at senior levels in academia contributes to a smaller pool of qualified female candidates for leadership positions in business. In the US, for instance, women only account for around a quarter (26 per cent) of full professorships and a meagre eight per cent of CEO positions. Here, an international, all-female panel of business school heads weighs in on these and other related issues. As female deans, what strategies have you found most effective in navigating and excelling in leadership roles within the competitive field of business education? Marion Debruyne “I would rephrase the question and say ‘As a dean , what strategy have you found most effective?’ because what has helped me is ignoring the fact that I’m a female dean. I’m just a dean getting on with it, trying to build the future of the school with a strong belief and passion for what we are doing. That being said, I have been underestimated at first glance – a lot. You hear it in little comments; I cannot tell you how often I’ve been asked what part of the school I was the dean of and I’ve had to answer: ‘Well, all the parts’. I also think there’s an advantage to catching people’s attention by virtue of being a woman in this role since it’s
ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
still something special and rare. You can use that spotlight and leverage it to the benefit of your organisation.” Cathy Cassell “I wonder whether the way women are usually so astute at organisational politics is because we understand the need to be able to get on with people in order to get things done. For example, in the past I have identified particular people I’m most likely to have challenges with because of their position in the university. I then ensure I’m meeting with them on a monthly basis to keep in touch regarding any issues we might face.” Delphine Manceau “I think connection with people is imperative. Also, get support – not only from female colleagues, but from men too. It’s important to avoid the ‘us-versus-them’ syndrome. Another key element is to be both an idealist and a pragmatist. Have big ideals that you’re trying to pursue, but also try to be realistic about what can be done. One big challenge – but also the route to success – is to combine the two and make sure you don’t lose sight of your ideals when you take into account the daily constraints you face.” Wendy Loretto “Looking at it from a gendered perspective, I would say, ‘Get used to being patronised’. As a female dean, you’re much more likely to get patronised than a male. How you deal with that in terms of strategies depends very much on individual personalities. Some may respond and call it out every time and that’s certainly my own way of dealing with it. As the chair of my advisory board said: ‘Wendy is known for being firm, but people don’t always realise it’. It’s about being persistent, building on the relationships and calmly working your way through.” Catherine Duggan “What I’ve found most effective is to take a mission-driven approach. It is, of course, critical to focus on personal and organisational values, to be pragmatic and to build relationships, but I also try to constantly take a step back and remember what we’re doing and why. That’s true at both a personal level and an organisational one – I genuinely feel that we’re doing something really important and staying focused on that fact makes it much easier to filter out some of the noise that can make leadership roles in academia so challenging.” Barbara Stöttinger “I think it’s important to stick to your own values – they are your guiding light whenever you are confronted with negative experiences. You’re always sticking out in a
Ambition | MAY 2024 | 13
inside the organisation, those who are strong institution builders. I see many schools where women carry a lot of the institutional responsibilities; not necessarily with the spotlight on them, nor with the titles associated with it. Moreover, they will not always raise their hand and be active candidates when a recruitment search starts. Keeping an eye out for talent that is already inside the organisation and not being blinded by confident, external, visible candidates can help fill the pipeline.” Wendy Loretto “Getting more women to stay in the pipeline, to get through to professorial level, is one thing all deans, male or female, should be focusing on. I would like to think we’re getting slightly better at it because when we do accreditation visits, you do see the percentage of female professors increasing. We can change the status quo by saying, ‘You don’t have to do things the same way’. Sometimes a barrier to promotion to chair level is not having an international reputation because you haven’t been travelling – if you’ve got any sort of caring responsibilities, those opportunities may be limited. We need to challenge promotion criteria to say there are other ways of developing an international presence – it doesn’t have to mean you’re never home.” Barbara Stöttinger “One of the excuses I often hear is, ‘Where are all these women? We would like to appoint them, but can’t find them.’ Research and my personal experience suggest that women need two types of networks: one that’s mixed and in their industry and one that’s purely female, where you can talk about issues, exchange ideas and support each other as role models. This is something that gives females in management and leadership positions greater visibility. Then if we are asked, ‘Is there anybody in your network that you can suggest?’, you have a very wide pool of trusted individuals you can put forward. The excuse of ‘there aren’t any suitable women’ is simply not valid anymore.” How best can we ensure there are more women at board level in business? Wendy Loretto “I think better progress has probably been made on corporate boards than in business schools, so perhaps we could learn from that. For example, there’s the 30% Club and high-profile lobbyists who really make
certain way [due to the lack of female representation] and people think they can use that situation for their own political agenda. Be aware of the fact that you’re in the spotlight; everybody is looking at us and they don’t all appreciate that we’re here. We are probably stepping on some people’s toes and we might get more attention because we are female deans, rather than if a male colleague were to do the same thing. Another very important strategy, I’ve found, is resilience.” What strategies can business schools employ to attract a greater number of female deans? Cathy Cassell “I think being a business school dean is a great job; I really enjoy it. What worries me is sometimes we might put other people off by the way we talk about it. Women assume the role has long hours, that it doesn’t fit very well with having a family. It’s really important that, as role models, we talk about it positively. We need to let them know how wonderful it is being a dean and how great it is to work internationally, be passionate about your school and interact with really talented people. We female deans need to talk about being deans in a way that makes it sound appealing to women. The fact that all of us are doing it shows that it’s attractive and that women can do it.” Delphine Manceau “Relatable role models are key, especially for younger colleagues. I also think it’s important to develop mentoring for female faculty from any generation. Personally, I have a rule when we have a search committee that there should be male and female candidates in the proposal. I think this changes the perspective of search committee members and they realise it is possible. For any recruitment process, for any job with responsibility, it’s important to have a diversity of profiles – and not just gender‑based diversity.” challenges that women face. Among other things, I don’t think we should focus on care responsibilities as specifically related to women – there are lots of women who choose not to take on that kind of responsibility and an increasingly large number of men taking on childcare and other family duties, often by stepping back in their own careers. Again, I think a mission-driven focus and our ability to make a difference as deans is an extremely attractive part of this job – it makes the compromises and intensity that the role requires worth it.” Catherine Duggan “We need to expand our notion of the opportunities and Marion Debruyne “I’m a first-generation student, so becoming a business school dean is like science fiction for me. My recommendation to search committees would be to look at the women who are already
sure businesses pay attention. But that’s still not enough and maybe part of the solution is getting ourselves as deans on boards, bringing in some of the things we’ve already talked about: being role models and mentoring other
14 | Ambition | MAY 2024
ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
women into these positions. At Edinburgh, we’ve run women and leadership courses specifically for non-exec directors and brought more women in that way.” Cathy Cassell “There’s help we can give from our research. We know that just improving the number of women on boards often isn’t enough, just selecting more diverse people is not enough if the culture remains the same. We really have to advocate for inclusive cultures and encourage organisations, companies, boards and our own schools to develop these. Pipelines are absolutely crucial, but inclusive cultures attract diverse people.” Barbara Stöttinger “If we look at the business environment in Austria, it was the legal requirement for boards to be 30 per cent female that really pushed the agenda. I think it’s the responsibility of women in those roles, regardless of whether it’s companies or universities, to ‘send the elevator back down’. We need to embrace responsibility when we are in those leadership roles to encourage women to take the next step because we are standing on the shoulders of those women who have come before us.” Delphine Manceau “We need to prepare students for more diversity and inclusivity by explaining cognitive bias. It’s important that young generations are aware, both male and female students, of this kind of bias and take it into consideration in the way they manage, from very junior management positions to later on when they assume more responsibility.” Marion Debruyne “Once you reach board level, there are ample opportunities – it’s getting there that’s hard. I recently wrote an opinion piece quoting what pilots call the ‘1 in 60 rule’: when you are one degree o course, 60 miles later, you’re a now a full mile o
PANEL PARTICIPANTS
CHAIR Colette Doyle Head of editorial AMBA & BGA DELEGATES
Cathy Cassell Executive dean Durham University Business School
Marion Debruyne Dean, Vlerick Business School
Catherine Duggan Director, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business
Wendy Loretto Dean, University of
Edinburgh Business School ( at the time of going to press ) Chair of AMBA & BGA
Delphine Manceau Dean, Neoma Business School
Barbara Stöttinger Dean, Wu Executive Academy
Ambition MAY 2024 | 15
course. That’s happening to women collectively, starting from expectations of care and being put-upon young girls to deciding what they’re going to study at university and choosing business courses [which they do less often than their male counterparts]. Then we get to women receiving fewer opportunities for sponsorship or mentorship. If you look at the cumulative effect of all of these little things, it really steers women off course as a group. That’s why you end up with only five per cent female CEOs or 20 per cent female deans.” Catherine Duggan “It’s critical for students to understand the journeys of business leaders. Our students often read about CEOs and managers without getting very much insight into how they got into those positions; as educators, we need to emphasise that the most successful leaders have not had careers that were perfectly planned and executed. Instead, we need to make sure that our students can navigate uncertainty and embrace things that are unknown while understanding that they can – and will – make errors, so the most important thing is knowing how to course correct.” What are some of the unique challenges you have faced as a female dean in business education and how have you overcome them? Catherine Duggan “I want to make sure that we don’t boil issues of leadership too far down into narrow issues of gender. All of us are women, it’s important that we’re women and it’s terrific to have a chance to talk to other female deans about the challenges and opportunities of being a woman in a leadership role. But we’re also multifaceted. All deans have identities and leadership styles that are amalgams of the different aspects of who they are; I think it is this mix that is so important to our success and that makes us both unique and effective leaders.” Barbara Stöttinger “I got some very good advice once from someone who told me, ‘You don’t need to ask yourself whether you’re doing a good enough job or not. The people who made the decision [on your appointment] obviously believed you could do it.’ That was a big relief. From then on, I just went ahead with it and didn’t think of myself as a female dean anymore, I was there to get the job done and to push forward with my own agenda for [the benefit of] the institution. All the other challenges that came along were ones that you face regardless of your gender. One of the biggest was Covid and nobody asked me during that time about being a female dean – the challenge was there and needed to be addressed.” Delphine Manceau “We previously talked about cognitive bias and risk-taking. I’m actually really worried about this for the future; I think the
gender bias in discipline choices for girls in their studies or first jobs is not being reduced. When I look at the number of girls in science and tech in a world that is increasingly science-driven and data‑driven, I’m worried about the future because this is not more diverse than in the past – it may even be getting worse. I still don’t think it’s being improved much globally. “It’s part of our job in business schools and as deans to improve these gender balances. We talk a lot about the glass ceiling, but we should also talk about the ‘glass cliff’. Females are often appointed to harder jobs. It’s a way of saying that you can get promoted, but it’s risky. If you succeed, it’s a great path to future success, but it’s harder.” Wendy Loretto “In a lot of ways, I absolutely agree; you are the dean and shouldn’t let gender get in the way. However, my own area of research – looking at health and ageing at work – touches upon
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Marion Debruyne “When you are asked what are the unique challenges you have faced as a female dean, you’re suddenly confronted with these questions about what your gender means in the role. As an academic, it made me interested in reading tons of articles, research and books on gender; I also asked expert members of our faculty to send me any relevant research because I wanted to understand it better. This has made me think about our hiring practices and how we educate our students to operate in an inclusive environment. It has all become a greater part of what I reflect on and bring to the table in managing the school compared to when I started out in my career.” What initiatives have you implemented to address gender disparities within business education and what advice would you have for other institutions looking to do the same? Barbara Stöttinger “In terms of faculty, I’m really grateful for accreditation bodies like AMBA who come in and monitor faculty diversity because that gives me every reason to push for more diversity, particularly for female faculty. I think it’s very important for accreditation bodies to look at diversity measures so that we keep progressing in this respect. “One approach that I’ve been using is that whenever female faculty are hired at the academy, I reach out to them once they have settled in and have a one-to-one conversation. This will explore different opportunities for how they can engage in executive education and explain [our goal of having] equal numbers of female and male faculty in the pool at the very least. “We also do peer coaching. When we talk about leadership situations, this is where you can have the most immediate impact on male leaders, when you are in the classroom and peers are sharing challenging leadership scenarios. If you’re a female leader, [it’s a chance to] talk about challenges with male colleagues who you have established a strong rapport with over the course of your learning journey. This has substantially changed the perspective of male students in how they deal with leadership situations.” Wendy Loretto “I’ve been a dean for eight years. I had a female deputy and director of faculty for a while, plus for a period of three years the dean of research was also female. Now I’m handing over to a male and it just so happens that the person coming in as deputy is another male – and the director of research position has been filled by a male too. I think that’s great because at other times women get the roles and men do the research – it’s about that balance. “I agree with what’s been said about us being deans first and foremost. But I still think a large number of female deans are probably juggling more [than male colleagues]. It may not be balancing work and life: it may be dealing with work, their deanship and trying to keep their research career going.
menopause and many women become deans at an age where they’re either going through perimenopause or full menopause. I’ve been able to utilise that to open up conversations so people will talk about it more, not just at the business school but within the university more widely. The conversations that are happening in the UK and France in particular are going to be a good thing for women in all kinds of senior positions.” Cathy Cassell “Part of doing the best we can is setting boundaries so that you can look after yourself. I’m very clear in my work/life boundaries in terms of my working hours. I rarely work on the weekends and I don’t work during my holidays. That suits me, it might not do so for other people, but I think it’s really important to think about resilience. How you develop this quality, how you protect yourself and how you look after yourself so that you can be a great dean and have the attention and passion [necessary to do] your job.”
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Finally, what do you see as the emerging trends in business education and how is your institution adapting to these? Delphine Manceau “For me, the first trend concerns innovation – in terms of both content and pedagogical approaches. We are still in the post‑Covid period where we learned so much about remote teaching and learning, but now students want to be on-site and to interact in-person with their peers and faculty. It’s about reinventing the optimal combination of remote and face-to-face teaching and how to use generative AI to stimulate learning and assess students. “In a world where they will most likely use AI in their jobs, we need to help students understand and use such tools in a productive way. We need to include these new topics and tools in what we teach as well as how we teach. Higher education is reinventing itself these days because this will change the way people work in companies, so we need to prepare students for that. “The second trend is about social responsibility, inclusivity, EDI topics and ethics. We’ve been talking for many years about training responsible leaders; it’s now even more important. Of course, the geopolitical environment also pushes us to question the way we train responsible leaders – and the students are pushing us too. “The third and major trend, at least in France where we have a lot of standalone business schools, as opposed to institutions that are part of universities, involves working more with other schools on developing cross-disciplinary programmes and research. We are specifically looking at how to combine the disciplines of technology, data, life sciences and philosophy with business.”
“As the chair of AMBA, I’ve been actively looking into getting more women on accreditation panels and this is something that [the association] does pretty well. I think about 30 per cent of members on peer review teams are currently women but that can – and probably should – go higher. I was accrediting a very good school about a year and a half ago; at the end of it, the female participants said it was the first time they’d ever had some of these issues about gender and bias raised. It’s not to say no man would ever do that, but I think the more women we can get on to panels, the more these kinds of discussions can be had.” Catherine Duggan “Over the past few years we’ve significantly increased the proportion of women in our faculty. One of the simplest but most important approaches has been to make sure that we’re being very proactive when we hire – not just advertising, but looking through our networks, reaching out to colleagues and making sure that we are inviting people to apply. Several of our most successful recent female hires have emphasised how important this type of invitation was to their decision to apply and, ultimately, join the school. “I think we also need to be very careful about who is carrying the administrative load in our organisations – particularly, whether we are adequately tracking the full scope of work that goes into these roles. As deans, we think a lot about making sure women are taking up leadership roles within our schools, but we frequently fail to account for the fact that the requirements of leadership roles don’t always fall on everyone equally. “Female professors often field far more student requests for office hours than their male colleagues, while students (and on occasion faculty too) will sometimes approach female administrators with a larger volume of comparatively minor issues. In my experience, schools almost never track this additional work. “When we add these issues to the well-known problem of women being disproportionately assigned to committee work, it is hard to escape the conclusion that well-intentioned approaches are failing to provide adequate support for women and faculty of colour [as well as other minorities] – and this is something that ultimately risks derailing promising careers.” Marion Debruyne “My approach revolves around educating our students and how we can develop them to be people who flourish and thrive in a diverse world. For us, it’s not about mentoring female students, it’s about enabling all of our students – independent of who they are and what facets they bring to the table – to be able to thrive in a diverse environment. “All our degree programmes have, as part of the curriculum, a DEI track that all the students must follow. This also includes an experiential part so all students are
involved in developing a solution to the challenge of creating a more diverse work environment, enabling everybody to live up to their full potential.”
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ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
Wendy Loretto “There’s a piece of research by AMBA & BGA that suggests a real concern from employers is that soft skills are worse than ever. I think there’s an expectation that business schools in particular must address this issue, as they are the ones responsible for getting students ready for a career in management. We have to recalibrate where our students’ soft skills are at because of the isolation that many suffered as a result of the pandemic, as well as the more general technological revolution that is taking place, with young people asking, ‘Why would you ever use a phone to call anybody?’ “Also, we’re now having to be more political as business school leaders than we ever have been before. Some of us are having to engage with governments who are actively hostile to international students, particularly in the context of wider immigration debates. We’re having to intervene and [make it clear that] all the things we prize through diversity and multiculturalism are under threat as a result of these restrictive and punitive measures that governments are either introducing or contemplating.” Catherine Duggan “We need to make sure that students are not just learning information, but really internalising how to put things together. They also need to know how to ask good questions, how to identify problems and their potential solutions, as well as how to push themselves analytically – especially in terms of the way that they think about the world. It’s important for our students to complete a business school degree being able to see things that other people may not be seeing. “Our school is not only a PRME Champion, but for the past several years more than 90 per cent of our faculty’s research has touched on one or more of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), so we think a lot about sustainability in management education. I think the next step in tackling these issues is taking a hard look at the ways some of the approaches to key SDGs may inadvertently undermine our progress on other goals. “For example, while we must be driving towards net zero, if we fail to make adequate plans for nations whose economies are substantially dependent on petroleum and other carbon-intensive industries – including many countries in Africa – then we are at risk of undermining our commitment to reducing poverty and inequality.” Barbara Stöttinger “If we understand our institutions as places of lifelong learning, people will come back throughout their careers. And when we say careers, it doesn’t end with retirement. When we look at careers today, they are not linear anymore. I believe the average estimate for US careers is 12 different jobs over a lifespan – and different jobs mean completely different careers. As universities, we make good connecting points. You come back to the university, not only for fresh knowledge, but also to tap into a network that you’re familiar with.
“Every career change is related to a disruption of your professional identity and if we manage to build those communities early on, then we can also be a safe space for students to return to for these connections, as well as a place to get advice. [Business schools should act] not only as knowledge hubs, but also as relationship hubs that alumni can connect with at any time in their professional life.” Marion Debruyne “One key trend is related to innovation in learning through the use of technology – for example, we’re now running pilots in how to use VR in the classroom. [The important thing is] how to do it in a way that really adds to the learning experience, not just doing something with technology for technology’s sake. This is something we really need to reflect on, especially as we’ve seen post-Covid that not everybody is excited about being in front of a screen to learn. People really value networking, which is still viewed as something that needs to be done face-to-face. “The other aspect revolves around sustainability. We just did our Scope 1,2,3 emissions studies and you come to the sobering conclusion that taking our students on trips to South Africa, Silicon Valley and so on really adds to our carbon footprint. On the other hand, in a world with all of these geopolitical tensions going on, you reflect on the tremendous value of educating our students, bringing them fresh perspectives and helping them understand how to make sense of the world. We need to sort out the tension around how we can be a sustainable organisation with conflicting goals. “Our students on the European Executive MBA are currently participating in a course called The Future of Capitalism , run by a consortium of business schools. It’s a fully online course with lots of schools from the Global South participating as well. It’s tremendously enriching for our students, who mainly come from Europe, to hear very different perspectives on the same issues, as this broadens their outlook. It’s not necessarily about simplifying things, but helping them to realise the complexity of all these issues and appreciate that the world is not black and white, but many shades of grey.”
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