INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The singular track to success is increasingly giving way to portfolio work, multi-role progression and lifelong reinvention, changing what students need from business school. That means redesigning the model around which programmes and services have been built for one that better connects degree education, alumni engagement, executive education and career support, writes Henrik Totterman W hile business schools are right to invest serious energy in AI, analytics, digital transformation and entrepreneurship, another shift is advancing more quietly and may prove to be just as important to business education’s long-term relevance. That shift relates to careers and the fact that a growing number of current
and future leaders will not advance through the traditional one-employer path around which many programmes are still designed. For decades, the implicit template behind much business education has been familiar. A student studies, secures a role, progresses within an organisation, broadens responsibility and later, perhaps, becomes a manager, founder, board member or investor. Although this model still fits many careers and should not be dismissed, it no longer adequately describes the market. This is because a growing proportion of professionals now build careers across multiple roles, institutions and income streams. In my work as an executive advisor, professor and columnist on the topic, I see a growing number of executives move between operating, teaching, consulting and governance responsibilities. Meanwhile, some take on interim or fractional leadership assignments. Others build careers through a sequence of projects, ventures and cross-sector engagements rather than embarking on a single climb within a single institution. Still others return to formal learning mid‑career, seeking guidance on how to build a career across multiple roles, even though business schools still offer only limited structures to support that reality. A life less linear This is not a fringe phenomenon, nor is it simply another way of describing gig work. It reflects
Business Impact • ISSUE 3 • 2026
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