Ken McPhail, Director of Alliance Manchester Business School and Professor of Accountancy at the University of Manchester.
As a business school, we know that we need to equip our students with the skills necessary for a … [+]
In the years since the global pandemic, it has become increasingly clear that we are living through one of the most disruptive phases in modern history, with a rate of social, technological and environmental change perhaps faster than anything we have seen since the Industrial Revolution. . Having set the agenda for the past two centuries, business leaders cannot afford to sit on the sidelines passively responding as this change happens around them – they must offer bold solutions and bold strategies that proactively shape how for these changes to occur in the coming decades.
the next quarter century will be crucial in determining how innovations and concepts that are in their relative infancy now will continue to impact our daily lives. Whether economic, climate-related, technological or geopolitical, we know that business will need to understand these changes and address their associated challenges.
The ability to adapt will be an essential skill for the business leaders of the future. As a business school, we know that we need to equip our students with the skills needed for an ever-changing business landscape in our teaching. And it is vital that the business community embraces a culture of lifelong learning that will enable leaders to ensure they are agile to new developments.
We are able to offer this because business educators are often embedded within the innovation ecosystems of our most creative and entrepreneurial communities. Our knowledge is derived from real world observation and field knowledge. Take, for example, AMBS. Based in Manchester – a city with its incredible heritage of innovation – we are inextricably intertwined with the region’s business and political communities. Being part of those ecosystems brings with it an innate entrepreneurial mindset along with the social infrastructure that frames academic thinking. While the school enters the 60sth in 2025, it is this combination that will redefine business, and by extension, wider society.
Technological disruption
Take, for example, the significant challenges businesses face in responding to the ongoing digital revolution. Being so deeply embedded in the innovation and business communities means that business educators are often the first to observe how the most important new technologies and processes are being implemented and proactively work with leaders to drive an innovation forward. such. At the same time, however, we also remain independent of those organizations and can act as a check on hyperbole or false claims of efficacy. We can provide objective analysis, critiquing ethical, practical considerations and provide historical context. Nowhere is this more important right now than in rolling out AI-driven tools across organizations.
Using AI responsibly and ethically is a huge undertaking for many organizations. Freed from the responsibility to create shareholder value or create productivity – which can often be overpowering and, at times, dangerous influences on AI adoption – academia can provide independent assistance on governance issues. Both in consulting with business and through our education of the next generation of business leaders, we are setting the tone for the diffusion of AI. Indeed, data from April 2020 to March 2023 shows that 7,600 students enrolled in AI and data science postgraduate conversion courses across the UK, helping to address a critical skills gap digital in those industries.
Shared vision
If entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship are essential to driving change and furthering new innovations, then it is the responsibility and role of business educators to set the tone and shape the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders. We can give people the tools to create and grow successful businesses and organizations that can affect positive change in an increasingly volatile society.
How the next 25 years of social disruption play out is likely to be heavily influenced by how we respond to developments in the near term, and indeed, in the year ahead. This can be daunting for professionals and organizations, but if businesses, policymakers and educational institutions work together as partners, such change can turn into revolutionary opportunities. Our shared insight, analysis and expertise will be essential to business leaders seeking to make enterprise and entrepreneurship accessible to all.
