Z General - Business Schools Archives – Page 13 of 32

March 9, 2022March 9, 2022

Developing ‘business transformers’ to create a more inclusive and sustainable society

France’s Emlyon Business School aims to develop leaders that are able to adapt, anticipate, and transform. Executive President and Dean, Isabelle Huault, spoke to David Woods-Hale about its ambitious strategic plan

You’ve been in the role of Executive President and Dean at Emlyon Business School for over a year now. Can you share some highlights?

I was appointed Executive President and Dean in September 2020 and my assumption of duty was not ordinary, given this period of great restrictions and uncertainty surrounding Covid-19. Not being able to meet physically with the School’s teachers and staff, or with the students, alumni, or partners of emlyon, was difficult, but it still proved to be a great learning experience. I was able to observe and measure the teams’ commitment to the School, the courage of the students who faced this crisis – and who are determined to continue to adapt as the situation evolves – and I experienced the support of our partners in such a complex context.

Thankfully, the situation has calmed down, and energy and excitement are alive again on our campuses. Over the past year, we have also built a new gender-balanced, high-level team, which is complete and ready to implement our strategic plan: ‘Confluences 2025’.

Do you think the Business School community has been fast enough to innovate during the pandemic?

Covid-19 has accelerated digital innovation. We had already begun the digitalisation process of training sessions before the crisis hit, so once restrictions were put in place, emlyon Business School was ready. Both our professors and students were already familiar with the tools. Stimulated by the emergency, the School immediately improved its digitalisation process, and turned the crisis situation into an opportunity to innovate in our pedagogy, course delivery methods, and knowledge assessments. For some courses, both professors and students felt it brought more value to the programme. For example, it enabled them to devote less time to travelling while still allowing them to engage with experts from all over the world for a truly enriching educational experience, even from home.

However, after this period of isolation and distance, it has become very clear that elements such as a physical dimension, human contact, and in-person meetings are also essential components of higher education and research. We still need places to discuss, share and collaborate.

What are the next steps for you as a leader and for the School?

With our newly appointed leadership team and the support of the supervisory board, we’ve launched an ambitious strategic plan entitled ‘Confluences 2025’. Our goal is to become one of the leading global business universities in Europe according to three main strategic priorities: commitment to social and environmental issues, academic excellence through hybridisation, and networked internationalisation.

First, as CSR forms the guiding thread for all the School’s training programmes, the skills repository of all training programmes will be reviewed in line with the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To promote social inclusion, emlyon is launching a proactive policy of equal opportunities, scholarships and the development of apprenticeship training. The School is also set to consolidate the scientific quality of both the faculty and its research output by recruiting 10 new teacher-researchers in various disciplines each year until 2025.

To reinforce the hybridisation of its programmes, emlyon will sign numerous partnerships with renowned higher education institutions in the fields of art, design, social sciences, and engineering, both in France and in other countries. Our international expansion will involve the development of our campuses abroad and 20 more double degrees with global institutions of excellence until 2025.

Finally, the Lyon Gerland campus will embody the best of this strategy and welcome the community of Emlyon in 2024.

What do you think sustainable leadership looks like?

At Emlyon, we train students to transform business models – becoming ‘business transformers’ – and to be social change makers who have an impact on their environment and organisations. We also encourage them to exercise an entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial mindset in the organisations in which they’re involved – whether these are a small companies, Cotation Assistée en Continu (CAC) 40 companies, or consulting firms.

Ultimately, our students will become leaders able to adapt, anticipate, and transform. In addition to being effective, these future decision-makers will be enlightened, responsible, aware of the social and moral consequences of their actions, and know how to combine efficiency, justice and sustainability.

The Bigger Than Us movie directed by Flore Vasseur is a good example of sustainable leadership, and it’s the backbone of the 2021-2022 year at Emlyon. This documentary was filmed all over the planet and it shows young people fighting for human rights, the climate, freedom of expression, social justice, and for access to food and education. Presented at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, it has been previewed by the 3,650 newcomers enrolled in our programmes to put their ideas into action.

How important do you think sustainability is, and in what ways have Business Schools adapted this into their programmes?

Social and environmental issues are at the heart of our project. Our students are asking, ‘how do I find meaning in my career?’ This focus, and the pandemic, has led us to review our courses to see how we can help students answer this question.

We have started to revisit our training offer, and all of our teaching units, according to the UN’s SDGs. By the end of 2022, nearly 60% of our training offer will have been reviewed and, within two years, it will be 100%.

At emylon, our social and environmental commitment is already renowned.In the 2021 EMBA Financial Times ranking, emlyon is ranked fourth in the world and first in France in the criteria Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). This is because we are deliberate about incorporating sustainability, corporate and social responsibility, and ethics within the executive MBA programme. Working with professors, we have developed a set of 35 competencies related to these topics, which are diffused into every course in the programme, and also link to the UN SDGs.

Our marketing course focuses on the ethics involved when marketing to children; our strategy course shows how companies can create sustainable business models, and our governance and compliance course shares best practices from companies relating to these topics. In addition, we have a number of courses such as ‘business for positive impact’ and ‘corporate and social responsibility delivered’ which focus exclusively on topics around corporate social responsibility, and incorporate real-world company and NGO challenges. Our goal is to develop responsible leaders, ready to contribute to improving business, society, and the environment.

Given the climate emergency, do you think Business Schools have a role in helping communities to respond to, and recover from, natural disasters?

Having a positive impact on the planet is a very ambitious goal which mobilises our entire faculty and all programme departments. The School’s objective is to hone students’ skills so that they can meet social and environmental challenges. For example, today we cannot deliver a marketing course without addressing the issue of responsible consumption, or programmed obsolescence, which definitely have consequences on pollution and global warming. We plan to create an ‘SDGs Inside’ label to emphasise the focus on issues surrounding social sustainability, ethics and ecological transition.

Business Schools have to be exemplars in their day-to-day operations to inspire students. On our French campuses, we will realise [and measure] our carbon footprint by December 2021. Energy performance plans have already been signed with services providers for our Paris and Lyon campuses in order to promote energy savings. We have also implemented a waste-sorting policy and moved to ‘zero single-use plastics’ with the elimination of food consumption plastics (cups, cutlery, and so on). A zero-waste box was distributed to students in all our programmes (reusable cup, box and bamboo cutlery, etc.).

Our new campus, due to open in 2024, will be exemplary in terms of environmental responsibility. A 9,000m² landscape park will allow us to restore nature and biodiversity on a site which was, up until now, a brown-field site. The bioclimatic building design will allow to optimise energy consumption; the building is going for the French HQE™ Excellent certification, and the BREEAM ‘very good’ rating.

In July 2021, Emlyon became a certified B corporation (B Corp). Could you tell us more about this?

We reached a major milestone last summer: Emlyon Business School became a B corp on 26 July, after its supervisory board voted to approve the change.

The School’s mission, now defined in its mission statement, is: ‘To provide life-long training and support to enlightened individuals able to transform organisations, for a more inclusive and sustainable society’.

It’s a structuring and unifying project that was initiated upon my arrival in September 2020. We worked on it with all of our stakeholders: students, faculty, staff members, partners, and of course, our supervisory board. It’s the result of a participatory process that has enabled us to formulate our social and environmental objectives clearly. It’s the starting point for the School’s strong, long-term commitment.

The School is making SDG 10-Reduced Inequalities a core focus and launching a mandatory ‘climate action’ course as part of the MSc in Management – Grande Ecole programme. How might this impact your MBA curricula?

This year, we offered our new students a ‘back-to-school’ under the sign of CSR, dedicated, specifically, to the UN’s SDG number 10, which aims to reduce inequalities between and within countries. On this occasion, the new cohort was able to attend an inaugural conference with a prestigious speaker, Pascal Canfin, President of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety at the European Parliament, which focused attention on to the climate issue.

In September 2021, we also launched the compulsory course ‘Act for the climate’ in the Grande École Programme (MiM). This introductory cycle is planned over 10 weeks at the rate of one seminar per week. The first five sessions will allow students to acquire all the fundamentals to understand the context and the principles of climate emergency. Over the following five sessions, students will learn how to explain big issues to the different [decision-makers] and how these actors take or should take initiatives to act.

As a result of achieving B Corp status, the School has adapted its vision and goals. Could you tell us about these?

As required by the French law ‘Pacte’, the management of our project will be regularly monitored by an independent organisation. Our social and environmental engagement must flow through all of our activities. Using a precise grid, the audit company will be responsible for evaluating our actions and commitments. We would lose B corp status if we did not follow the ambitious objectives that we have set ourselves. This underlines the fact that the decision we have taken is obviously very [important to us].

What are the biggest challenges facing international Business Schools?

I guess the biggest challenge for international Business Schools is to educate our students to address significant new challenges in a changing world. The biodiversity and preservation of the planet are the main issues going forward. It requires the radical transformation of our programmes and of our research.

Learning trips have heavy carbon footprints, but it is not about questioning our global strategy, but rather avoiding short journeys to the other side of the world. We have reflected on this subject, particularly in terms of our MSc, and for scientific conferences. There is no question of giving up international openness; we consider that essential to the multicultural and learning experience of our students and members of Faculty, but to arbitrate on the question of mobility in a reasonable way.

Political, economic and social inequalities tend to generate extreme violence. Business Schools have to fight against discrimination and violence and promote openness and mutual respect. We have launched an online reporting platform, called ‘speak up’, where anyone can report instances of discrimination, sexism, or sexual violence. The platform is open to the school’s staff, and to Emlyon’s French and international students.

Developing diversity, and providing equal opportunities, is one of the main responsibilities of Business Schools. At emlyon, we support access to higher education for young people from underserved or priority education districts and rural areas, in association with volunteer students.

Over the past 15 years, in a number of middle schools, high schools and preparatory classes, we have implemented two systems aimed at lifting students’ self-censorship: tutoring and preparation sessions for oral examinations have helped high-school students to identify a wider range of career options, to think more ambitiously regarding their desired professional project, and, ultimately, to integrate successfully into the best Business Schools. More than 4,000 high-school students and 800 preparatory class students took advantage of these social programmes, and 180-plus students have joined the top eight Business Schools in France; 80 are at Emlyon.

What do you think differentiates Emlyon Business School in the business education ecosystem?

We value ‘management’ because we consider it to exist at the crossroads of a wide variety of disciplines. It fits into society and the economy in general, and is a cornerstone for other diverse disciplines such as engineering sciences, artificial intelligence, humanities and social sciences.

An open application process is integral to our other key value: entrepreneurial spirit. Beyond entrepreneurship, we instil and encourage a spirit of initiative through our on-demand programmes, our Makers’ labs and other world-class facilities, and through our commitment to empowering community life.

It is our early makers pedagogy – according to which we ‘learn to do and do to learn’ – that is our great differentiator. This real-world approach enables leaders to be equipped to face the challenges of both today and tomorrow.

These values were ultimately captured in our mission statement, and are what distinguish us as both a School and as a benefit corporation.

Do you feel optimistic about the future of business, Business Schools, and the economy?

Let’s stay positive. There will certainly be a decline in GDP both in France and internationally, but also growth prospects. New activities will continue to be created, while others have already grown around digital services, and some entrepreneurs may cease their current activities to invest in new ones. The coming months will cause worry, and that’s normal, but new opportunities are likely to appear too. For example, the Covid crisis has also led to a collective awareness about climate emergency and fostered global solidarity.

In this context, Business Schools have a role to play in developing knowledge that allows us to innovate, take action, reinvent, and develop. What is essential is to provide knowledge and skills that allow individuals to adapt throughout their professional lives. It’s about having both fundamental knowledge and soft skills – the vital interpersonal skills that we do not always possess inherently, but must learn.

And finally, it’s about having the capacity and skills to prepare and respond proactively to emerging models that do not currently exist. Let’s imagine them here and now.

Isabelle Huault became Executive President and Dean of Emlyon Business School in September 2020. She was President of Paris Dauphine-PSL from December 2016 to 2020, having been a Professor at the School since 2005.

This article is adapted from one which originally appeared in Ambition – the magazine of the Association of MBAs.

February 28, 2022February 23, 2022

Inviting alumni back to Business School, for the planet

Business Schools can make a difference by providing sustainability education to alumni alongside current students, write Carina Hopper and Johanna Wagner

Lifelong learning is a crucial part of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education), which aims to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.

In Business Schools, lifelong learning is often offered to a wide audience of professionals, including those who did not graduate from a management programme and seek the soft and hard skills necessary to get to the next step of their career. Today, in the context of the climate emergency, the need for companies to change the way we do business calls for greater commitment from Business Schools to transforming the paradigm not only among their current students but also among their alumni.

Where we are now

Surveys (including 10 years of research around education and sustainability from UK organisation, Students Organising for Sustainability) are showing an undeniable shift in student expectations, with rising demand for the skills needed to transform companies in the Anthropocene Era.

In the field, more and more practitioners are showing a willingness to adapt their professional practices by placing a strong focus on sustainability, but do not have the necessary training to do so. One reason for this is that sustainability teaching began as late as 1992 and has only recently begun to grow in scale.

As a result (and what is now a defining obstacle to rapid change), during their studies, most current professionals were not equipped with the knowledge and competencies needed to manage sustainable businesses. Many higher education institutions are already working to remedy this situation for their current students, but they can also contribute to filling this gap for their alumni, thanks to the development of new, targeted lifelong learning options.

Bringing alumni back to School

One solution, represented by the Back to School for the Planet initiative, leverages the existing relationship between higher education institutions and their alumni to provide critical sustainability learning in a way that is innovative and simple to implement.

How? By considering alumni as potential students for newly introduced sustainability courses, sessions and activities. Most of the time, a strict boundary is set between students and graduates, but when it comes to sustainability, this boundary should be reconsidered. Indeed, on the topic of sustainability, many alumni resemble incoming students. They are new to the subject and curious to discover everything it has to offer. Business Schools can build on the trusted relationship with their alumni to offer them a free update by inviting them Back to School for the Planet.

Whether updates are offered online or in person, this initiative brings alumni back into the classroom alongside current students to participate in the discussion. Beyond the clear advantage for alumni in terms of benefiting from quality education from their institution years, or even decades, after their graduation, their presence in the classroom proves to current students that this topic has become strategic for companies. It also sends a strong message to students, candidates and the wider community that the School is committed to providing lifelong learning on issues that matter, as part of its added value.

How it works

Alumni inclusion in your institution’s new sustainability education offering can take shape in a myriad of ways and can be adapted to School policy, course format and alumni availability.

Benefits for current students

Thanks to Back to School for the Planet, the student learning experience can be enhanced in several ways:

1. First-hand accounts of how the sustainability strategies and concepts being taught may play out – or may have already been executed – in the professional world are integrated into the classroom discussion, thanks to presence of alumni with experience in the field.

2. A strong link is created between current students and participating alumni, leading to potential networking and employment opportunities.

3. A new type of collaborative environment emerges that is intergenerational and bridges the academic and professional world in a dynamic way.

Scalability

Back to School for the Planet is highly transferable and scalable thanks to the widespread transition to online and hybrid education seen in many regions of the world. Schools that wish to do so (particularly those without online learning capabilities) can invite alumni to participate in their new sustainability-focused educational offering in person.

The only requirement for institutions interested in participating is to have introduced new courses or activities in sustainability – something that is becoming increasingly common due to the rise in education for sustainable development (ESD) in recent years.

Support in implementation

Back to School for the Planet grew from a teacher-led initiative to a non-profit scheme to encourage its application, and support Schools in its implementation. By providing instructional guides, alumni recruitment support, participant certificates, a communication toolkit, access to a Back to School for the Planet network, and more, the organisation can help your institution to broaden the impact of its sustainability efforts by opening up these opportunities to alumni. The full potential of higher education to contribute to change can be achieved when the dissemination of sustainability knowledge and competencies efficiently target current professionals as well as future ones. Your School can accelerate the change by inviting its graduates Back to School for the planet.

Case study: ESSEC Business School

In 2020, as faculty teaching new sustainability classes in the MSc in hospitality management at ESSEC Business School, we created the Back to School for the Planet initiative in order to test our hypotheses that: alumni are interested in accessing sustainability training in the form of newly introduced sustainability courses in the School they graduated from; and this access can have an impact on their personal and professional lives.

Both the number of applications, and the answers to the impact survey we conducted six months later, supported the hypotheses and demonstrated additional benefits. A few weeks before the start of the 2020-2021 School year, an alumni gathering presented the opportunity to discuss the introduction of a set of new sustainability courses for current students. One conclusion from the discussion was clear: while graduates were pleased that sustainability teaching was now being incorporated by their former School, they did not feel that they themselves had the necessary knowledge or understanding to act in favour of greater sustainability in their companies.

This led us to ponder how we could help them shift towards more responsible business practices. Since Covid-19 had made hybrid teaching commonplace at our institution, we realised that course attendance could now be extended to motivated alumni as a lifelong learning option. From their home or office, participants could benefit from the same new courses as current students. We submitted the idea to the programme director, who shared our vision and supported the piloting of the initiative.

For the pilot, we opened to alumni four spots each in two new 25-hour courses on sustainability. We received 16 applications from former students. The eight successful applicants were invited to attend all 25 hours of their assigned course alongside current students. During the sessions, we observed that the graduates were engaged – both in terms of asking questions and sharing relevant experience – while the students were stimulated by the of alumni and their contribution to discussions.

Of the participating alumni, five answered our impact survey and unanimously agreed that the experience of returning to their classrooms to learn about sustainability was transformative and had positive impacts on their lives.

Carina Hopper teaches sustainability in fashion and luxury and sustainable hospitality management at Business Schools, including ESSEC Business School, SKEMA Business School and ESMOD Fashion Business School.
Johanna Wagner teaches in leading European hospitality management master’s programmes. A hospitality professional, she moved from working in finance and asset management positions to facilitating sustainability for students and professionals.
Carina Hopper and Johanna Wagner are Co-Founders of Back to School for the Planet.

This article is adapted from one which originally appeared in Ambition – the magazine of the Association of MBAs.

February 23, 2022February 21, 2022

What can management learn from medicine?

Management is remarkably casual about testing the efficacy of its practices, but this needs to change, write Rob James and Jules Goddard

Imagine medicine without experimentation, or pharmacology without clinical trials. It seems impossible in today’s world. Yet, for most of history, we have relied almost entirely upon unproven, ‘quack’ remedies for the treatment of illness and disease.

The story of medicine is the story, in part, of fake cures in which the unwell were persuaded to place their faith. We had bloodletting, leaches, snake oil, lobotomies and much more. For centuries we trusted in physicians, faith healers, shamans, medicine men and other authority figures to decide what was in the best interest of our health.

It’s only within the past century or so that we have created a disciplined, experimental approach to answer the fundamental questions posed by any new treatment, drug, or therapy: Will it work? Is it safe?

These were the questions that dominated concerns around the Covid-19 vaccines. The answers were provided through imagination, exploration and by impartial, controlled experiments with rigorous analysis of the results.

By contrast, management prefers to rely on market signals to judge its performance and on ‘best practice’ to shape its approach. Imagine the answers to the questions above if medicine had been dependent upon ‘best practice’ to develop its response to the pandemic. Modern medicine sets a higher hurdle for its ideas to jump than business does.

How confident are we that management practices would survive the clinical testing that drugs must pass to be made lawfully available? Is the faith we place in such practices any more rational than that once placed in bloodletting?

In 2017, Bain & Company’s Management Tools and Trends Survey found the 10 practices in the table to the right to be most relevant. But 17 years earlier, the rank order was rather different. While digital transformation and economic cycles have influenced such comparisons, for many techniques, there seems to be no reason why their popularity has waxed and waned. Management practice seems to be a product more of fashion and contagion than of evidence and research. By contrast, the knowledge and action that informs medicine or engineering develops gradually, systematically, and cumulatively.

With management theory, there does not seem to be the same path of progress and the result is a workplace often ruled as much by tradition as by science. Some business practices will turn out to be effective and valuable, but many will be shown to be overblown, injurious, or mistaken. They are the 21st-century equivalent of ‘quack’ remedies.

So, what can business education learn from the evolution of medicine? How can a scientific approach to problem-solving and strategic planning help to navigate the complexities of today’s business world?

Experimentation forces us to make our reasoning explicit

In a typical business plan, how much attention is paid to stating the make-or-break assumptions in a testable format? Is it just a set of numerical targets? In each case, we are relying on rather different success factors, with business regarded as either a test of perspiration and perseverance or one of inspiration and insight.

The experimental frame of mind says: ‘Stop asking “what results do we want to achieve?” and “what outcomes count as success?”’ These are banal questions to which every competitor in any industry will have similar answers. Instead, competitive advantage begins by asking: ‘On what assumptions are we banking to deliver these outcomes, and what evidence do we have that they are true?’

Experimentation liberates the human imagination

The experimental mindset is one that relishes creativity. It is not afraid of appearing naïve, foolish or unorthodox. The importance of this lies with recognition that great entrepreneurial ideas are rarely self-evident and can be eccentric or idiosyncratic. We need to stray outside of our notions of common sense if we are to bump into great business ideas.

Experimentation not only inspires people to be more imaginative in seeking options, but also to be more disciplined in their evaluation. This contrasts sharply with the standard method of strategic planning where little creativity goes into the content of the strategy and yet a spirit of ‘anything goes’ is invested in its execution… as long as targets are met.

Experimentation acknowledges human fallibility

When we start with intention, we move to plans, targets and milestones, missing the critical ingredients of knowledge and conceptual foundations.

Experimentation starts in the right place – with what we need to know rather than what we need to achieve. It starts with our ignorance, not with our desires. With an acknowledgment of our own fallibility, we find ourselves exercising curiosity, listening to each other, and formulating conjectures. When we ask, ‘what don’t we know that we need to know?’ it becomes the material from which sustainable strategies are constructed.

Experimentation changes attitudes to risk and failure

The list of transient practices described in the Bain report are often the result of ‘social proof’ or herd mentality. Management techniques become popularised as people seek ‘best practice’ to avoid the risk of falling behind competitors. They seem blind to the fact that ‘best practice’ is plagiarism, with little being achieved by dutiful obedience. The real competitive advantage is the preserve of those who first experimented with the concept or idea. Changing attitudes to risk and failure can make the difference from being a follower to a leader.

Experimentation encourages boldness to try new ideas and catch the first wave of innovation.It means applying a process in which risks are mitigated and failure is viewed as learning. It allows organisations to test strategies in discrete market segments or small parts of the organisation. ‘Farming the bets’ rather than ‘betting the farm’, spreads risk and creates freedom to try things out. It encourages people to test a wider span of ideas because the costs of failure are lower.

Experimentation encourages ‘agile’ competences

In science, experimentation exemplifies the virtues of patience, humility, open-mindedness, curiosity, and objectivity – qualities that are rare in most businesses where leaders are mainly rewarded and recognized for behaviours that deliver timely results and solutions. However, an over-reliance on authority, experience, and an alacrity to get the job done in these situations, becomes limiting when applied in complex business environments where imagination, nimbleness and dexterity are required to succeed.

Leaders that do flourish in such an environment are comfortable with ambiguity and shun control as the only way of decision-making. They are suspicious of shortcuts, compromise and received wisdom. They seek new solutions and different ways of working. In short, they develop a set of skills and behaviours that makes them more agile leaders – they become experimentalists.

Rob James MBE is the Founder and Managing Partner of a leadership consultancy practice and a Programme Director at London Business School.
Jules Goddard is the leading proponent and practitioner of action learning programmes at London Business School. He is also a member of the Council of the Royal Institute of Philosophy.
Rob James and Jules Goddard are the authors of Business Experimentation: A Practical Guide for Driving Innovation and Performance in your Business (Kogan Page, 2021).

This article originally appeared in Ambition – the magazine of the Association of MBAs.

February 17, 2022February 16, 2022

The entrepreneurial future of the workplace

What is the future of the physical and virtual workplace? Birmingham Business School’s Endrit Kromidha and Matthew Thomas consider the rise of entrepreneurial work and the dangers of losing unplanned and in-person exchanges of ideas

A shortage of containers for international shipping, missing products from supermarket shelves and an absence of workers to fill cars with fuel in petrol stations can, in great part, be attributed to a global mobility crisis due to the pandemic.

Excluding the violence, similar situations have been faced only in times of war. As expected, the response from business has been to innovate and adapt in order to survive and potentially gain a competitive advantage for the long run.

In times of crisis and when the future is unknown, it becomes necessary and therefore easier for everyone to dare more. This article reflects on the rise of entrepreneurial work, digital platforms for doing more remotely, and the hybrid future of the office, drawing implications for business graduates and managers.

Entrepreneurial work

Proactiveness has been shown to be a key characteristic of entrepreneurial orientation, related to actively seeking, creating and exploiting business opportunities. The current pandemic has been very challenging, but it has also created opportunities through systemic changes.

Many business leaders have, typically, pushed the pressure to be proactive down the hierarchical ranks of an organisation. In doing so, being proactive and adapting to changes have become expectations at any organisational level.

This leads to the second dimension of entrepreneurial orientation – innovativeness. This refers to developing new processes, products, resources, services, markets or organisations. Entering the unknown space of innovation requires taking risks, which is the third dimension of entrepreneurial orientation.

In this new environment, job redesign, job rotation, or other innovative ways of inducing change in the workplace, happen naturally. What’s required is an entrepreneurial mindset at every level of the organisation, together with a paradigm shift on the use of digital platforms and technologies for new ways of working.

Redefining digital work platforms

Digital platforms have long been used for a number of efficiency-related reasons in business, such as better communication, access to information and resources, easier exchanges of financial and other forms of capital, and transfers of knowledge through collaborative work for open innovation and co-creation across organisational and national borders.

Yet, until the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, digital platforms were considered in great part peripherical to the physical workspace and human interactions. Not anymore, the paradigm shift to online and remote as the new norm has already happened. Technologies like Zoom or Microsoft Teams are only the surface of what the future could bring with metaverse virtual reality solutions at work.

In the new digital workplace, meeting in person is considered a rather dangerous (for reasons of health and wellbeing) alternative that needs to be used sparingly. Thanks to digital work platforms, the notion of the office has transcended organisational boundaries, often entering peoples’ homes, and now occupies their free time and weekends just as a business would do for a 24/7 entrepreneur – but this process is not without other challenges.

The post-pandemic office

The physical office must not be ignored. Early in the pandemic, when working from home was still a novelty, many enjoyed the newfound convenience of not needing to commute to and from work. In addition, there was a sense that efficiency had improved as well. Meetings became far more transactional, where agendas were prepared, people spoke one at a time, and they finished when the work was done.

As the pandemic wore on, we started to notice some aspects of work that were made more difficult by being remote from each other. Minor disagreements between colleagues could fester because there were no easily accessible social mechanisms to diffuse the situation. As a result, minor disagreements could become sources of conflict and sometimes hostility.

Perhaps even more seriously, we started to miss the unplanned conversations that occur just because we happen to be in the same physical vicinity as others. The conversations when walking with a colleague to a meeting, over a cup of coffee on a break, in the canteen at lunchtime or on the way to station when leaving work. On Zoom and Teams, these conversations hardly ever happen. But why is this so important? There is a lot of evidence that suggests that it is these unplanned encounters that fuel creativity and innovation. The best ideas come from encounters with people we did not know we needed. The danger therefore for organisations that abandon the office completely is that it may lead to an innovation deficit.

What can the business managers of the future learn from this?

Organisations have reacted to the newfound freedoms of remote working in very different ways. Some have abandoned the office entirely, opting for the convenience and cost benefits of working from home. Others have gone to the other extreme and insisted that all staff return to the office. Given the importance of chance encounter to innovation, it is no surprise that some of the tech giants are among those pursuing this policy.

Most organisations, however, have opted for some sort of hybrid model, allowing employees to blend working from home with working from the office. What business managers need to ensure is that these decisions are based on the needs of the business rather than the opportunistic saving of real estate costs or the evidence of short-run added efficiencies.

In this light, the role of the office may also change in the future. The main purpose of the office could shift from one that encourages productivity in the workplace to one that encourages unplanned social encounter. Already, some organisations are starting to reimagine their offices as social hubs that are there specifically to fuel innovation.

Endrit Kromidha (left) is an Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, and Director of the Birmingham MBA in Singapore. He is also an entrepreneur with industry experience in banking and finance, and the Vice-President for Policy and Practice at the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Matthew Thomas (right) is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and International Business at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, where he lectures in international strategy, innovation and strategic change. His background is as a practicing manager, most recently with Assa Abloy, a Swedish organisation ranked as one of the world’s 100 most innovative companies by Forbes.

February 14, 2022May 31, 2023

Mentorpreneurship: lifecycle support for students and innovators

Lifecycle mentorship that begins pre-university and continues far beyond graduation offers a golden opportunity to nurture ongoing communities of support for socially conscious entrepreneurs, says LJ Silverman, Head of LSE Generate

Business degrees often top the leagues for popularity among undergraduate students, with many drawn towards this subject area as they feel it offers the best guarantee of post-study employment.

With enrolments onto business studies degrees likely to continue rising over the next couple of years, increased emphasis needs to be placed on nurturing entrepreneurial thinking among business students, so that they can excel in their studies and create impact in the world once they graduate.

To achieve this, fundamental support and resources, such as mentoring, must be offered in order to help students understand what is required to run a successful business. But this alone is not enough – now, more than ever, mission-driven companies are outperforming more traditional business models and universities have a responsibility to fill a clear gap to provide specific and tailored entrepreneurship training to early-stage social ventures to help them grow and deliver social impact at scale.

The mentoring lifecycle in action

Mentoring has been used throughout history and the expectation is that the knowledge, power and influence of the mentor will assist the mentee in achieving their objectives in whichever aspect of their life or work they are being supported in. These relationships tend to be longer term, allowing mentees to benefit fully from learning and developing over time. This model has been used countless times within both education and the workforce, as it assists in embedding the learning that individuals undergo.

In more recent times however, mentoring has evolved and one new approach, among others, is a ‘lifecycle’ model which challenges traditional methods of mentoring by introducing ‘reverse mentoring’, where a senior leader is mentored by a younger or more junior employee.

Educational institutions are beginning to adopt more radical models that are more representative, innovative, and diverse. LSE Generate, the entrepreneurship hub at the London School of Economics (LSE), has created the ‘Mentorpreneurship’ programme, in partnership with OakNorth Bank. The programme seeks to engage past, current and future student entrepreneurs in a lifecycle of mentoring, helping to develop their businesses and creative ideas.

The model is designed to facilitate mentoring across the participating groups: [secondary/high] school students will be mentored by LSE students, early-stage entrepreneurs can receive support from alumni entrepreneurs who will have access to senior innovators, who will, in turn, be ‘reverse mentored’ by school students. Peer-to-peer support is also encouraged and supported across all of these groups.

Each year, LSE Generate will also host a tailored programme of online and offline activity. This includes mentor bootcamps, founders’ retreats, one-to-one coaching, keynotes, and pitching practices, alongside a series of podcasts and audiobooks to connect entrepreneurs with mentors locally and internationally. With several international entrepreneurship chapters across the world, including Mumbai, Chengdu, Los Angeles, and Lisbon, with Nigeria, Shenzhen and Colombo on the horizon, the programme aims to create an ongoing global community of support for socially conscious entrepreneurs. This approach ensures that mentorship is part of the DNA of impact-driven companies and founder mindsets rather than something that is sprinkled over business plans at a later stage.

The importance of mentoring

Offering a lifecycle-style of support from the early stages of a student’s educational career up until graduating from university – and beyond – allows periods of sustained and productive activity, where pupils are continually reviewed and able to adapt to ensure that learning continues and is relevant. This generates a cycle of constant nurturing and support, resulting in more prepared, confident and business-minded students entering higher education with an increased likelihood of not just surviving but also thriving in the entrepreneurial environment.

In the world of business, the ability to overcome adversity and accept a decent amount of failure are essential assets and mentorship facilitates this transfer of knowledge and insight, potentially having a huge impact on the resilience of both a founder and their team. Knowing that others have been through similar situations and have come out the other side can make a lasting impression. However, this exchange can be threatened if the mentorship fails to continue to proliferate and evolve. This is why the lifecycle model is a more sustainable and fruitful method – there is always someone new to learn from and something new to learn, even in challenging times.

Mentors can play an important role in an individual’s success, and many CEOs say they have received some form of mentorship throughout their career journey. A good CEO will know that the use of mentoring, particularly the lifecycle model, can inject creativity, new perspectives and ideas where a business needs it most. This can help create a sense of security for potential investors due to added trust in startups who are recommended by experienced peers and open to learning – both giving and receiving advice from others.

Strong relationships with the next generation can benefit leaders and investors with decades of industry experience equally. Strong mentee connections can help mentors obtain a greater understanding and respect for the guidance they give, as well as new insights into how their own business ventures can relate to new ideas.

The role of business schools and universities

Much of the resources that universities and business schools provide – including assisting students in making the transition from education to the startup world through career-planning programmes and mentoring – have grown in popularity as proven methods of supporting students. By offering mentorship at the early stages of students’ studies and careers, mentors are allowing them to connect, collaborate and receive as much support as possible, which in turn often results in increased alumni engagement and more significant prospects for future endeavours.

In particular, universities have a duty to advocate for the creation of more socially conscious startups among their cohort of student entrepreneurs, especially given the current climate in which we find ourselves. Socially responsible companies tend to attract employees who are eager to make a difference in the world, cultivate positive brand recognition, and boost consumer loyalty. This type of business is becoming highly appealing to both consumers and shareholders alike, accelerating economic growth as well.

However, to achieve these business goals, student entrepreneurs need to connect with an alumni network of experienced professionals for crucial contacts, insight and motivational support. Universities should engage alumni mentors to improve a student’s overall education and career/business planning experience. Through mentoring programmes and by providing startups with mentors, universities are more likely to produce a portfolio of successful student entrepreneurs. However, to encourage thinking that is truly impact-driven, confront biases and stimulate innovation, the mentoring lifecycle approach goes one step further by integrating reverse and peer-to-peer communication. As a result, it supports entrepreneurship as a viable means of driving local change and establishing long-term impact communities.

The future of mentorship in business

Recent times have proved hugely challenging for startup businesses but have also presented opportunities to think about the type of innovation and support needed to make a real difference in society. At LSE, the launch of the Mentorpreneurship programme comes at a time when the need for human interactions and mentorship is fundamental – not only to navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, but also to create real change for the future. We believe that entrepreneurship should be the great equaliser. No matter what challenges the world presents, or where you are based, an inclusive startup culture that benefits a global community can flourish with the right support, access and materials.

For entrepreneurs, learning rarely stops, and to foster the spirit of creative thinking, mentoring is most beneficial when it starts from the early stages of career development and continues throughout education and beyond. Universities play a crucial role in advocating and championing support for their business students, especially those looking to pursue entrepreneurial careers with a social purpose.

By pioneering social impact businesses, universities demonstrate the value of social sciences, as well as the arts and humanities, in encouraging collaboration to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges – and the lifecycle of mentorship is fundamental to this, helping to develop these businesses and creative ideas even further for the betterment of society.

LJ Silverman is Head of LSE Generate at the London School of Economics (LSE). Previously, she ran her own careers and recruitment consultancy focussed on climate change. LJ holds a BA and a master’s degree in modern and medieval languages from the University of Cambridge.

This article originally appeared in the print edition (November 2021) of Business Impact, magazine of the Business Graduates Association (BGA).

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February 9, 2022May 22, 2023

Transforming inclusion for people with disabilities

Inclusion for people with disabilities is often sidelined, but schools have a role in enhancing opportunities and changing perceptions, writes Nyenrode Business University’s Naomi Vervaart

Diversity and inclusion is usually part of a business school’s strategy, but policies for people with a disability are not always covered.

I believe the subject of disability inclusion at international business schools is of great importance and should be discussed more. It should become an integral part of an inclusive strategy for schools worldwide.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, disability inclusion means understanding the relationship between the way people function and how they participate in society, and making sure everybody has the same opportunities to participate in every aspect of life to the best of their abilities and desires. One billion people, or 15% of the world’s population, experience some form of disability. One-fifth of the estimated global total – or between 110 million and 190 million people – experience significant disabilities.

Given that disabilities have such wide-reaching effects, it’s surely important for international business Schools to understand how disabilities can uniquely impact a person, and in turn how Schools can offer their help and support. This may range from looking at application processes to scrutinising the accessibility of buildings and curricula. It includes support not only for the students, but also for the academics and employees (such as me) who work within business schools.

Drawing on first-hand experience

I was born and raised in Bruekelen, and having stayed close to my roots, am now working at the business school there: Nyenrode Business University. Disability inclusion is a topic close to my heart as I was born with hereditary spastic paraparesis and am a wheelchair user. This is a rare condition, caused by the impaired functioning of descending nerves in the spinal cord. It manifests in increasing spasticity, weakness and stiffness in both legs which can make it difficult to walk. While it cannot be prevented, slowed or reversed, some of its symptoms can be managed to make day-to-day activities easier.

Prior to my role at Nyenrode Business University, I graduated as a teacher of Dutch sign language. However, I found it challenging to find a job in this sector and, after my studies, I worked for a year in customer services at the Dutch railways. I came across the opening at Nyenrode Business University with the help of an employment agency. I began working here in 2016, initially as programme co-ordinator at the Executive Education department, responsible for participant administration.

In April 2021, I became programme advisor. I enjoy helping people find a programme that suits their learning needs. My typical day includes contacting people who have shown interest in a certain course, or offering my help to those who might have queries about studying at Nyenrode Business University. Our executive education offers approximately 100 programmes and there’s always something (not least an email or 10) to keep me busy.

Trying to find a suitable programme for a student with a physical or learning disability is not always straightforward. For those who need extra support, there can be challenges to overcome, and I believe we need to support these students in their studies; for example, by adding more guidance and information about studying with a disability to our websites and making this information clearly visible on the homepage.

I would also like to see brochures featuring images of both disabled and able-bodied people. Little things like this can make someone with disabilities feel more included, showing that their needs will be catered for. Universities should take the time to consider how they present themselves, and their accessibility and acceptance of disabled people. This would make a big difference to students with disabilities applying for their programmes, giving them confidence that an institution is able to offer proper support.

Tips for business schools

My advice for schools includes making sure that application processes promote an inclusive environment. If your school is truly accessible to everyone, and is it possible for people with disabilities to study there, then make that clear. Upload details to your website and print it in your brochures. Enable students with disabilities to share their experiences with new students. Promote the fact that students with disabilities are welcome at your school.

Inclusion for people with disabilities can often take a back seat in the face of other issues or priorities. Disability can fall behind the curve when it comes to business school strategy, in comparison to other diversity strands such as gender, race and sexual orientation. These receive more attention, perhaps because there is greater awareness of them.

Many people within universities – students and academics alike – have had little experience of disability. Schools can make sure that policies and practices exist to make disability awareness more of a priority, and create an environment that is inclusive and accessible to all. In many cases, it is quite possible to study when you have a disability. However, I believe schools need think about, and help with, necessary adjustments.

There are various different strategies that international business schools can implement to encourage and develop a culture of inclusion. Preparation and awareness training is a great way to mitigate a lot of challenges. For example, making sure a building is accessible to those who use a wheelchair or require mobility aids makes it much easier and more comfortable for students with disabilities to move about. Installing equipment that supports students’ needs gives them full access to education.

At Nyenrode, accessibility is something that has been thought through and has really benefited me. I can move around easily in my wheelchair in the newer buildings here. In fact, I can do so in all but the castle, which was built hundreds of years ago. Our location in Amsterdam is also accessible to those with unique requirements.

Meanwhile, improving the way in which information is delivered to those with learning disabilities can make teaching, and the curriculum, more accessible and welcoming; for example, using assistive technology or audio formats to encourage multi-sensory learning and to cater to the different ways in which a student may engage with information. This might include providing readings and printouts in a larger font, using Braille worksheets, or something as simple as improving the lighting in classrooms to make for a more comfortable learning environment.

Simply facilitating a discussion between faculty and students on what, and how, improvements can be made can make a difference. This is something that happens at Nyenrode. Everyone is welcome here, as long as the study is suited to them. We discuss students’ needs, and together we will look for solutions. It doesn’t matter whether a student has a disability or not.

Giving people the opportunity and tools to talk about their disability creates an open and transparent environment at a business school, and this is a really important way of bringing disability inclusion to the forefront of a school’s agenda. Through facilitating discussions, schools enable students to offer their own ideas and bring first-hand experience to the table around how to promote change in terms of the school’s facilities, organisations, curricula or policies. We find the conversations with prospective students to be very important.

Bridging the gap between education and employment

Having addressed these practical issues, the next step for many business schools and universities to consider is bridging the gap between study and employment for those with disabilities. When looking at my own situation a number of years ago, I recall that the School I attended in Utrecht provided little in the way of help when I was considering life after university. As a result, I had trouble find an internship and was apprehensive about applying for jobs subsequently, expecting to face similar issues. Writing my résumé was also a challenge due to the lack of guidance.

For example, I struggled with whether or not to state on applications that I was in a wheelchair. I wasn’t sure whether to introduce the subject during the first few emails. However, fortunately, at my school, I spotted a flyer on the bulletin board advertising an employment agency for people with disabilities – named ‘Emma at Work’ – so I reached out to them.

Emma at Work is specifically designed to help young people with disabilities find employment. The agency started in 2006 from a project in the Emma Children’s Hospital (EKZ) Amsterdam UMC. After a year, it became an independent foundation, growing into a non-profit organisation. The agency is committed to closing the gap between young people who have a chronic illness or physical condition and the labour market.

The agency helps to train and develop young people aged between 15 and 30 through its programme GAP Track. The aim is to find each applicant a job at a company that suits them. It wants to help create a society in which everyone can participate. I don’t think I would have been able to find a job so quickly without Emma at Work’s help. Thankfully, I found the agency, but I would like to see more faculty members having conversations with students with disabilities and giving them the sort of advice I received from the agency – especially when it comes to finding accessible internships.

When considering the future of diversity and inclusion for all in business education, I am incredibly optimistic. The subject is becoming increasingly important, and I believe that more and more people are beginning to talk about disability. Already, there are many business schools providing disability co-ordinators, specific disability policies and pages of support on their websites. This is an important step in the right direction.

I hope that, through sharing my own experiences – alongside those of others in similar situations – I can provide a positive example of how it is possible to overcome potential challenges and that this will serve as a message of encouragement to others. International business schools have the power to change perceptions. They can help to puncture the idea that students with disabilities will struggle to study or to work. They can help to provide environments that are truly inclusive to everyone.

Naomi Vervaart joined Nyenrode Business University in 2016, working as Programme Coordinator in the School’s executive education department. In April 2021, she became a Programme Advisor at Nyenrode. Disability inclusion is a topic close toNaomi’s heart as she is a wheelchair user, having been born with hereditary spastic paraparesis.

This article was originally published in the print edition December 2021/January 2022 of the Ambition, magazine of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

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