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As Vaclav Smil wrote in his wonderful book titled “Numbers don’t lie”, the decade of the 1880s were miraculous. It was the decade when America built 100,000 kilometers of railroads, houses and cities first received electricity, elevators made skyscrapers practical, the internal combustion engine was invented (which made cars possible), the first telegraph systems appeared, the first practical bicycle was sold, Coca-Cola was launched and The Wall Street Journal was first published.
These miraculous inventions also caused enormous business upheaval. Managers running businesses in this era of transformation required a new set of skills. In response to this demand for a new set of skills, management programmes were created in the United States. Some of the earliest management programmes were offered by Wharton School (established 1881) and Harvard Business School (established 1908).
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Without a doubt, management education has evolved over the past hundred years, with dramatic changes in the curriculum, pedagogy, duration and formats. An MBA was once out of bounds for many people, but through the online learning revolution and Emeritus’ partnerships with top tier universities, management programmes have become more accessible and affordable to individuals around the world.
Now in 2022, as we navigate a pandemic that has created enormous business upheaval, and we are in the midst of new global challenges,it is a good time to reimagine the MBA.
Reinvent Curriculum
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This will require a reimagining of the MBA curriculum to align with global mega-trends, and not just digital transformation.
In a world of shrinking and ageing populations, MBA courses should consider teaching students how to serve ageing populations. Nearly every MBA course in the world teaches students how to appeal to the young. But we now live in a world where a large number of people are older and richer, but most products and services the world makes are not appropriate for them. For instance, why don’t we have a mainstream mobile phone that is made for older people? In a world of inequality, it is important study and understand the household P&L of people with low incomes along with studying the P&L of companies. This would probably create a more empathetic business leader who can balance the priorities of shareholders versus employees versus community.
In a polarized world, MBA studies should include an unbiased study of economic models beyond capitalism. The curriculum should include material that expresses points of view of those who oppose globalization and capitalism. The world will require business managers to understand and appreciate a more diverse range of view points to be able to create more equitable business models.
With the worldwide focus on decarbonization, the curriculum should include studies of every aspect of a decarbonized economy – from the tech innovations driving it, to the business models to the environmental impact of every aspect of the supply chain. Similar to the changes that have occurred in the past, the world’s path to decarbonization will not happen only via technology and policy. It will need business managers to drive the change – by creating products, services, financial models and operating models that will make a decarbonized world viable and possible. For instance, making electric cars is relatively easy today. But building an ecosystem which includes charging points, financing options and making an electric car the preferred choice requires management innovations - which will come from MBAs.
The pandemic has opened up an opportunity for universities to remove dated content in the core subjects and include current and future global content.
Reinvent teaching model
The MBA teaching model has had classroom teaching in the center with online learning and field-immersion via internships and industry projects as supplementary course material. It’s a great time to invert that model and invent a teaching model that has field-immersion + online learning at the center supplemented with classroom teaching where required.
For instance, a course on decarbonization may be best served by listening to Bill Gates’ decarbonization lectures on YouTube rather than attending a classroom. And the relevant aspects of leadership, communication, empathy, community related to decarbonization can be best taught in a field-immersion.
Reinvent career service
The typical MBA programme has students who seem to have similar career goals. Most want to join a startup or become a management consultant or a VC after finishing their MBA. We should consider reinventing MBA career services where recent advances in brain science and data science could be used to enable students to discover the career that is most appropriate for them.
For instance, if a combination of a brain scan and data analysis shows me that I deeply dislike sitting in aircrafts, a management consultant’s career may not be the right choice for me. Although this seems obvious, it is suprising how many years MBA students spend in different careers before finally discovering what really matters to them. The key is to enable students to discover themselves. Once a student understands their own self better, they may make better career choices.
In conclusion, MBA education is important to society. Nearly every company on the Fortune 500 list has a CEO with an MBA, and large companies impact our lives in a myriad of ways. Ensuring that we create MBAs that are appropriate to the era we live in will positively impact society.
The author is CEO – India & APAC (Consumer), Emeritus
