business schools are responsible for training the next generation of business leaders, we must be at the forefront of the wicked problems the world is facing. It’s not enough to comment on those issues, we must be doing something actively to challenge them. This is something that our students now expect of us and, similarly, employers. One of the key challenges facing businesses is how we train people to deal with the challenges that being truly sustainable brings. It’s also an area where I feel accreditation bodies have helped encourage schools to focus on sustainability and their own efforts. There are many examples of schools which have adopted aspects of sustainability into their programmes. We launched a master’s in energy systems management just last year, for example. Some have used the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to structure the learning outcomes of their programmes, while others have introduced responsible business modules, so we’re making some progress. Again, it comes back to making a cultural change. If schools wish to make a real impact they must embed a focus towards sustainability into their everyday thinking – not just what they teach but how they run their programmes and their campuses. Sustainability should be a starting point for every discussion. What do you think sustainable and responsible leadership looks like? It’s being courageous enough to challenge the things that we don’t feel are right and questioning accepted, traditional leadership models to ensure that others can be empowered to do the same. Sustainable and responsible leadership comes down to encouraging others through succession planning, role modelling and development opportunities, so that you’re creating a standard of better leadership for the future. It starts with us – making sure
for instance. However, if there is diversity without inclusivity, it does not work. We must ensure that people from all walks of life do not feel like the ‘other’ and that they feel included in their organisations. The feeling of belonging is crucial to an inclusive culture. How far are we from achieving genuine equity in the business world? I think it will only be when we stop noticing things like having a female dean at a business school or an ethnic minority leader in the workplace that we’ll know that things have truly changed. We must also bear in mind that diversity goes beyond gender and race. We’re becoming a lot more sensitive towards things like neurodiversity and the impact of that on the workplace, as well as mental health and so on but, as a society, we’ve still got so much more to learn when it comes to how we manage diversity. It’s certainly something we’re considering more and more at Durham, for example, as we make the move towards our new campus and how we might support our neurodiverse staff with this process. The research I’ve done shows that what makes people feel like they’re in an inclusive environment is when the interventions leaders make are designed for everybody, as people feel they are being treated fairly. It’s more important that businesses create a culture of inclusion than it is to, for example, appoint women to senior jobs. Of course, it’s important that women have equal opportunities to men but simply appointing a female leader will not necessarily make things better for other women, unless that female leader is committed to fostering an inclusive culture. It’s inclusion that needs to be the focus. MBAs care about climate change. How important do you think sustainability is, and in what ways have business schools adapted this into their programmes? I think it’s absolutely crucial. And, as
our behaviours, priorities and actions match what we’d want to see in those who will come after us. What do you think differentiates the MBA at Durham University Business School? I think what characterises our MBA programmes is that we really focus on trying to create globally minded business leaders of the future, and that we do it in a number of ways. Whether through our diverse cohorts, the themes of our classroom-based learning and international modules, our in-class projects or our interactions with industry, everything is designed to develop those core leadership skills and knowledge base. We set our programmes up in such a way that students are able to learn from everybody – not just those charged with educating them but also the industries they come into contact with, the alumni who support them and the classmates sitting alongside them. We keep a close focus on tying what students learn to how it can be applied in industry. From providing students with an option to tailor their learning journey through our specialist subject pathways, to giving them real-life company challenges to provide solutions for and experience delivering those solutions in a boardroom-styled exercise, we ensure students fully realise the importance and practicalities of their education so they can go on to be the changemakers we wish to see. In light of disruptive innovation in higher education – from the metaverse to digital credentials – what sort of innovations is your school developing to future-proof its business programmes? We are constantly scanning the global landscape to see where the future of business education is heading and how new technologies can be leveraged to best effect. For example, we are currently in the middle of developing a new Window On the World (‘WOW’) room at our new
18 | Ambition | DECEMBER 2022/JANUARY 2023
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