Tessa Melkonian: “At Emlyon, we come from a practical- application background, but when we talk about leadership, we need this rare combination of research-savvy professors and a practical approach. We work across disciplinary silos; I collaborate with colleagues from strategy, leadership and management, so we can offer something that helps future leaders to deal with the type of challenges they’re facing both practically and scientifically. “I’m also focused on the cost involved, as that is something that constrains us all. We know, for instance, that assessment centres are the best way of predicting future behaviour, but they cost a lot, so big organisations don’t always use them, even for top-level hires. I think we are at this kind of crossroads – do we invest enough money and organic change [in teaching soft skills]? It’s hard for us to direct our students to become innovative leaders when we ourselves find it difficult to pursue innovative business goals.” Federica Pazzaglia : “There is an appetite among our lecturers to experiment and very often that’s what it takes – you need to experiment with students in the context of soft skills, using new techniques and new approaches. [Reverting to the earlier topic of AI], as such tools become more prevalent, we have to consider the extent to which you can be really proficient in using technology and the extent to which you can still be creative. “Might it be the case that we’re all starting to converge towards some kind of general consensus on business problems, potential initiatives, or even big societal issues? This could be due to the fact that our outlook is increasingly becoming shaped by AI, which is composed of the opinions and input of those who have already been part of it, so we are confident that it has been ‘vetted’ by others. This could potentially get in the way of soft skill development, especially around critical thinking, decision-making and creativity if we feel we don’t need to be so reliant on ourselves [as human beings].” Looking ahead, over the next three to five years, which soft skills do you believe will be most critical in order to enable managers to navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain business environment? Munish Thakur: “My top skill would be to get beyond the fear of missing out, or the ability to ‘stay in uncertainty’. One more skill which I would highlight is this: don’t be so desperate to change other people to make them more like you; just let them be what they are and acknowledge the differences between you. Finally, I would like to see more love in the world – if you ask me, that’s more important than all the other soft skills put together.” Tessa Melkonian: “I would say that role modelling will be crucial in periods of uncertainty, when people have a tendency to scrutinise the behaviour of their leaders even more keenly. This will require
“In India at least, competition seems to be a real driving force to improve quality among business schools. Sometimes educators are hesitant about explaining their evaluation to the students, they’re scared of emphasising the softer skill areas. Of course, we are trying our best, but there are a lot of challenges – you still have to find room for all the other subjects [in the MBA curriculum].” Bruno van Pottelsberghe: “I think the challenge is similar everywhere, especially when you are a research-based university, meaning that sometimes it can be difficult to recognise [the importance of] soft skills, as you have different metrics and monitoring. There is also a little bit of resistance to change. “Then there’s the fact that we have international accreditations, requiring a certain number of contact hours, as well as course credits. Plus, [the whole process] is standardised – that works well as an indicator of the quality of the institution, but at the same time it does not make it easy to innovate in terms of soft skills. “Times change and we’ve seen more openness around teaching soft skills, but it’s still not an easy road – we can’t just forget about the cognitive skills that also matter.”
24 Ambition • ISSUE 2 • 2025
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