“Then there’s human-machine interaction in terms of intrusion in our life spaces, eg cyber security and the potential risk of losing everything that you’ve built over a lifetime, whether that [refers to] organisations, or an individual’s financial assets, their personal data, online identity and so on.” José Esteves: “At Porto, we are trying to [put together] a course on the defence industry, not about arms and weapons, but focusing on the defence economy from a business perspective, for instance [areas such as] agribusiness. We have a strong connection with Africa, which is the next big continent in terms of young people and recruitment talent. We are also working with the Blue Economy [the sustainable use of ocean and other water resources for economic growth and improved livelihoods while preserving the health of the aquatic ecosystem]. “In terms of sustainability, we’ve just launched a core course on biodiversity and nature-based solutions. Our new intake [of students] is going to have that as mandatory, part of the sustainability track. “I think what we really need to change is the mindset on what learning is to something I call ‘learn to learn’. We need to think, as business schools, about how we can encourage our students to [do this]. It’s not only about lifelong learning, but also how you can learn new ways of doing things. We need to develop leaders as explorers – and that means having skills, [such as] curiosity, ambition, willingness to take risks and so on. “We also need new leadership styles – eg the transformational leader. I’m currently doing research about AI and how emotional, responsible leaders [interact with the technology]. That is another dimension of this perspective of AI, how our response to these sudden and rapid changes in society will create leaders who are not afraid to explore new worlds or the unknown.” In a rapidly changing technological and economic landscape, how can business schools instil a strong sense of adaptability and a commitment to lifelong learning in their graduates, ensuring they are equipped to continuously upskill throughout their careers? José Esteves: “As well as upskilling, there’s another [term worth mentioning], lateral or cross-skilling. In terms of lifelong learning, we recently launched an alumni initiative campaign, where a student comes back and does certain electives and then they will receive a micro-credential. It forms part of our social responsibility [commitment] to our alumni to offer them the opportunity to come and do these new courses with various pathways. “We need to think about [creating] new kinds of programmes and shorter ones too, as well as developing different modes of study and the mindset of having a continuous need to learn. And not only learning, but changing your mindset because what you knew yesterday may not going to be valid tomorrow. [This echoes] what Albert Einstein said that it’s not so much about knowledge, it’s about the thinking process – that will become way more important in the future.”
play in addressing these things because we are the natural glue, with science at one end and social science, arts and philosophy at the other.” Delphine Manceau: “What we’re doing at NEOMA is defining some areas of excellence where we want to stimulate research and go beyond the traditional disciplines of marketing, finance and so on. The first of these we call The World We Want. It’s about diversity, climate change, biodiversity and about how companies today can contribute to [creating] a better world. “The second topic we came up with was AI, Data & Business and how all this is changing so rapidly these days. The third is about the Future of Work; the way people work and their relationship to their jobs is completely changing. This is true both for Gen Z and for remote workers. I completely agree with what Barbara said: people need to learn more how to discuss things [calmly]. It’s very hard these days to disagree, with the younger generations messaging each other on social media – they don’t really [know how to] discuss. “The last topic is about complexity. We are in an increasingly complex and uncertain world and that is fundamentally changing the way of doing business. We are including [these elements] in our curricula… and helping our students explore them, so they can become game-changers within their organisations.” Ajit Parulekar: “I see that there is a convergence of disciplines [happening] and there’s a revolution around the whole biological and medical sciences space. There is a lot of work going on around cell biology and genetics and that’s not an independent discipline – it’s being accelerated by artificial intelligence and quantum computing. “Related to that is the whole [concept of] longevity economics and sociology as it affects the future of work and people’s incomes, as well as the world’s population growing older. There is the implication, therefore, of what medical science or genetics can do in the context of regenerative tissues, stem cells and the like.
18 Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025
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