ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
PANEL PARTICIPANTS
invested in intercultural training sessions and underpinning that work is the concept of bringing together various perspectives. It’s important to ensure that people can talk across different cultural dimensions without, potentially, being biased in the way they interpret what they hear.” Bruno van Pottelsberghe: “Corvinus is going through a very significant change with respect to multiculturalism; that’s partly why I’ve been recruited, to internationalise the school, because they recognise that it’s of key importance to offer multicultural and global exposure, as Hungary is a fairly small country. We operate a substantial study abroad programme whereby universities send cohorts to learn in Budapest for a term and they have access to the same elective courses; we also have around 300 student exchanges per year. “I’m well-versed in integrating cultural differences in terms of leadership skills – it’s my personal experience as I come from Belgium, but in Hungary the way of working is different. You have to be able to adapt to different environments and ways of communication. This can be covered on an MBA course, but you really need to secure practical experience – that’s why we’re planning to offer our students internships abroad to learn about different ways of working.” Hannah Holmes: “The approach that we take is to harness a passion for intercultural differences. We are trying to instil in our students the importance of being aware of cultural differences and learning to appreciate them – that’s why we integrate international case studies into the curriculum. COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) projects are a great way for students who can’t travel outside the UK, due to financial or family reasons, to gain international experience and [forge] collaborations across borders. “I think it’s really important that the people leading these sessions are undergoing training as well, so that they can consciously bring that to light in their conversations with students. Business school students tend to have an appreciation of that already because [their course] opens up all these global opportunities. We encourage them to practise self-reflection and become the best version of themselves in this context.” Tessa Melkonian: “Our faculty is more than 50 per cent non‑French, so we are already operating in a totally international context. Plus, our students participate in multiple exchange programmes and spend on average more than 12 months of the curriculum abroad. I think it’s important to highlight that it’s not all about the cultural differences between us, but what similarities we share as members of a universal system, in terms of global co‑operation and facing the challenges of operating globally. “Many studies have made it clear that organisational culture can be far more influential on behaviour than national culture – great leaders transcend national cultures, meaning that they use a universal dimension to engage with people.”
CHAIR Colette Doyle, head of editorial AMBA & BGA
DELEGATES
Hannah Holmes, dean Manchester Metropolitan University Business School
Tom Lindholm, managing director Aalto University Executive Education
Tessa Melkonian, head Leadership Academy for New Futures Emlyon Business School
Federica Pazzaglia, associate dean University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School
Bruno van Pottelsberghe, rector Corvinus University of Budapest
Munish Thakur, dean Delhi-NCR campus, XLRI-Xavier School of Management
Ambition • ISSUE 2 • 2025 19
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