VIEW FROM THE TOP
THE NEW NORMAL
AMBA & BGA CEO Andrew Main Wilson relays key insights from this year’s Latin America conference, including the impact of artificial intelligence on careers, the skills ranked most highly by employers and innovative approaches to internationalisation
I
have just returned from our annual Latin America Deans & Directors Conference, held this year in Rio de Janeiro. Among the comprehensive range of key issues facing our industry that were discussed
A thought-provoking presentation from LinkedIn, whose membership now exceeds one billion individuals, with 68 million companies also using the site, shared the top 10 most in-demand skills in 2024, according to their corporate recruiters. These were: communication, customer service, leadership, project management, people management, analytics, teamwork, sales, problem solving and research. Four of these are classic soft skills and – encouragingly – six are functional/technical skills that most AMBA & BGA business schools already deliver in their curricula. LinkedIn also named the “top skill of the moment” as adaptability. I believe this reflects the increasing global geopolitical and economic challenges and uncertainty facing all talented managers on graduation this year and will be the hallmark of an outstanding future leader, as opposed to an average one. Two aspects of internationalisation were discussed, where the old model of lengthy student exchanges may now be superseded by shorter arrangements and ‘diffused reciprocity’. This means that schools don’t have to reciprocate exactly, but
could offer faculty exchange in return for a student exchange or an international research project. Even the very best Latin American schools have been experiencing international competition to recruit local students, especially from US and European schools. Some of these schools are aiming to attract students to their 100-per-cent-online programmes. Because of the language barrier and predominantly part-time nature of postgraduate programmes in Latin America, it can be difficult to attract inbound foreign students. Local and proprietary knowledge context content is, therefore, deemed essential as a natural protection against international competition, as is a greater focus on applied research topics relating to the region. Once again, we noticed the richer value of face‑to-face networking compared with virtual meetings and conferences. Some 12 different Latin America countries were represented and delegates also came from as far afield as the Netherlands and China to build productive new partnerships, as well as to develop a deeper understanding of the key issues affecting Latin America, country by country.
at the event, three in particular stood out for me: the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on careers; the top skills demanded by employers in 2024; and internationalisation – both building global relationships and protecting local business schools from international competition. One insightful graphic categorised key careers in terms of how they might be impacted by AI. The first category was Insulated from AI, spanning jobs such as dentists, athletes and builders. The second category was Augmented with AI, for instance marketing managers, web designers and software engineers. The third was Disrupted by AI, ie careers such as legal associates, librarians and translators. It’s vital that business school careers services staff can give insight to students, especially undergraduates, so they can bear in mind these three categories when deciding on their future career paths.
38 | Ambition | OCTOBER 2024
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