UPSKILLING FIRST
COLLABORATION TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE COUNTRY: Switzerland SCHOOL: IMD Leading Business Schools in Europe have joined forces to help address the climate crisis and provide a toolkit for both current leaders and future leaders. The founder members of the Business Schools for Climate Leadership (BS4CL) alliance are IMD, Cambridge Judge Business School, HEC Paris, IE Business School, IESE Business School, INSEAD, London Business School, and Oxford Saïd Business School. The alliance’s activities will be based around trying to accelerate Business Schools to take action in line with the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The first action of the alliance was to unveil the BS4CL climate leadership toolkit at the COP26 in Glasgow, UK, held in November 2021. The 94-page digital toolkit is available on the alliance’s website and is split into two sections. The first looks at how climate change will impact business while the second considers how businesses can change their strategy to have a positive impact on the planet. ‘As educators and researchers as well as stewards of powerful alumni bodies, we need to work together to protect humanity,’ said IMD’s President Jean-François Manzoni. ‘The lessons in the toolkit will arm executives with the skills and questions to take bold action not only to mitigate the effects of climate change but also to understand the business risks and seize the opportunities ahead. ‘Tackling the climate crisis can’t be done alone,’ he stressed. ‘This is why we are working together. Climate leadership to the power of eight.’ The Business Schools aim to identify and shape best practices in business, and work with industries and communities to raise awareness of the emergency of climate change. Together, the eight members of the alliance educate more than 55,000 students and executives per year in their courses and have a collective alumni body of more than 400,000 people. / Ellen Buchan (EB)
NATIONS LEADERS COUNTRY: Canada SCHOOL: HEC Montréal
HEC Montréal’s executive education arm is serving as an incubator for a new School that aims to upskill First Nations leaders. First Nations Executive Education (FNEE) is the brainchild of Manon Jeannotte (Mi’gma) and Ken Rock (Innu), both of whom are graduates of the McGill–HEC Montréal EMBA programme. FNEE will draw on the resources of Executive Education HEC Montréal, but has the ultimate aim of becoming an independent School. ‘Our vision is to give every leader the tools they need to be a force for positive change and success within their communities, elements that are critical to First Nations’ self-determination and improved socioeconomic conditions,’ said Project Co-Initiator, Ken Rock. ‘To achieve this, FNEE will offer university-level short programmes for First Nations elected officials, administrators, managers and entrepreneurs in communities, online and in Montréal.’ The School’s first programme kicked off in December 2021 and is aimed exclusively at elected First Nations officials and administrators. ‘Exercising authentic leadership’ and ‘influencing collective change’ are among the programme’s modules, with these scheduled to be held at HEC Montréal and a First Nations host organisation, respectively. Programmes aimed at managers and entrepreneurs are planned for launch in the second half of 2022, or early 2023. ‘I welcome this co-development concept between HEC Montréal and First Nations, which hearkens back to the alliances that characterised our first contacts and that are in keeping with an outlook for a brighter future for us all,’ said Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec- Labrador, a political body that unites 43 First Nations Chiefs in Quebec and Labrador. ‘The creation of First Nations Executive Education not only addresses a need for upskilling our leaders, but it is also an initiative that will undoubtedly have positive repercussions on all of our communities.’ Executive Education HEC Montréal currently trains 9,000 executives, professionals, and leaders a year and is a member of UNICON, a global consortium for university-based executive education. / Tim Banerjee Dhoul (TBD)
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