OPINION
Business and leadership GO HAND IN HAND
EDITORIAL Editor and Director of Marketing and Communications David Woods-Hale d.woods@associationofmbas.com @davidpaulwoods Art Editor Laura Tallon Content Editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@associationofmbas.com Insight and Communications Executive Ellen Buchan e.buchan@associationofmbas.com CORPORATE Head of Commercial Relations Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@associationofmbas.com Commercial Partnerships Manager Emily Wall e.wall@associationofmbas.com
‘Growing a business should also mean developing leaders’
pologies if I appear to be stating the obvious in the headline above. Let me clarify: while business and leadership do , of course, go hand in hand, priorities shifted during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in industries around the world, organisations put everything they had into innovating through uncertainty. In many cases, this came at the expense of investing in the development of their leaders. This presents a significant opportunity for Business Schools. Looking to the future, it may seem just as obvious to suggest that ‘growing a business should also mean developing its leaders’, but in his cover feature for this edition, Pekka Mattila brings this point home and puts it into a Business School context (page 20). He argues that, as the post-Covid recovery gains momentum, businesses taking stock of the HR projects they’ve been forced to put on hold for the past 18 months will recognise the need to formulate an overarching trajectory for leadership development objectives and activities. For this to succeed, they will need a combination of leadership development and business development – and this is where business education comes in. Mattila goes on to explain that if more organisations adopt the idea that leadership development and business development go hand in hand, they will rely on Business Schools to provide them with education to support this. And, by using leadership programmes to develop the leaders within a business, the business will succeed, because a good leader will implement vision and values, ensure effective communication, and motivate employees. Taking this theme further, Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center (page 24), says Schools have an opportunity to collaborate with businesses in their regions, feeding their countries with research related to entrepreneurship, family business, and innovation. He says Schools must hear the demands of companies and adapt their programmes to the needs of the labour market. As the reputation of their country increases, so does the ability of the School to attract and retain better student profiles. David Woods-Hale , Editor, Ambition
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THE AMBITION PODCAST
that nearly two thirds of digital strategies fail. To investigate what can be done about it, The AMBITION Podcast spoke to Robin Speculand. Speculand’s pioneering work has been featured worldwide including BBC World and Forbes . He is an educator for Duke CE, IMD, and an adjunct member of Singapore Management University. In this interview, Robin outlines the successful digital transformation at the Singaporean bank DBS – and puts practical points for how other organisations can put world-class strategies in place to thrive in the digital age. www.associationofmbas.com/podcast
The past 18 months have been hard on everyone – but especially job seekers. This month on The AMBITION Podcast, we talked to Cel Amade and ask her how students leaving their universities can stay motivated when they are feeling forgotten by their institution after not being allowed on campus and now are facing a tough job market. Amade shared motivational advice on how to fail and how to keep a positive mindset.
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We’re all familiar with the term ‘digital transformation’; but recent studies have revealed
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