Judith Hanika-Grünn, Group Expert, Executive Development and Change Management at Raiffeisen Bank International AG, was a keynote speaker at AMBA & BGA’s Business School Professionals Conference 2019 in Vienna, Austria. Here, she discusses the importance of lifelong learning and how MBA qualifications can add value
Why do you value the importance of lifelong learning for employees?
Lifelong learning is a given. There is no life without learning. We do it anyway. The only differentiation is that you can do in a smart or less smart way. Lifelong learning is a must.
Anyone who has been employed over the past 25 years has had to learn, and that’s whether or not they have attended formal classroom training, or they would no longer be in employment.
How do you see MBA qualifications adding value to your business?
MBAs are one of many ways in which we can support our employees in their development. It’s very selective due to the cost and the time needed for an MBA. It’s not a format that will suit everybody, but for certain people, perhaps those with a technical background who are now stepping up to a more managerial role, for example, an MBA can really help them broaden knowledge and expertise.
What does ‘good’ look like in an MBA graduate?
I look at MBA graduates and compare them to how they were when they considering doing an MBA.
What I first see is that their self-esteem has grown in a very healthy way and the achievement of completing a part-time MBA alongside a full-time job. It is a challenge and if you’re able to do it, it’s a very cool thing. Of course, they have also gained cutting-edge knowledge and built a network beyond their own industry. Our industry is banking, for example, but on an MBA you will normally meet people from outside financial services and this broadens your thinking and expectations.
What advice would you give to someone considering taking an MBA?
The first thing is to have a good reason for doing it. You should be very clear about this, perhaps writing down your reasons and sticking them on a pin board at home so that whenever you experience doubts, you remember why you are doing it. You should also ensure you have the support of family and friends, as well as your team and colleagues at work.
How can MBAs be sure to use their skills in business once they have finished the programme?
From my experience of colleagues studying MBAs over the past 12 years, as soon as they began studying a particular module or topic, they started discussing with colleagues what they could do differently in their job. This comes naturally.
This article previously formed part of a larger feature published in Ambition, the magazine of the Association of MBAs.
Although revising the historical values of a company is necessary in a dynamic modern world, it can disrupt people’s sense of ‘who we are’ and should be carefully managed
The history of a company can be very important to an organisation, especially if these historical values have become deep-rooted within the company and its employees. However, to keep up to date with present day issues and future plans, a company is sometimes required to change its mottos or values. Although revising the historical values of a company is necessary in a dynamic modern world, it can disrupt people’s sense of ‘who we are’ and should be carefully managed.
In Japan, historical values are often embodied in statements called ka-kun, which loosely translates to ‘family mottos’. Ka-kun include principles, rules and instructions left by past leaders, such as company founders, to their successors. In many Japanese firms, foundational ka-kun have remained relevant for decades, even centuries, passed down through history via oral or written memory to the present day. These ka-kun can be interpreted as strategic identity statements – statements expressing the mission, values, and philosophy of a company. Over time, these statements create a shared sense of purpose among employees and motivate them to work together to achieve common goals.
Reconciling change with historical values is a challenge for very old organisations since these values may have become ingrained in the company and are often emotionally charged. This is particularly difficult for family firms as managers may be reluctant to abandon family traditions, feeling an imperative to pass them on to the next generation, while somehow remaining flexible to change.
Longstanding, time-honoured identity statements may be more resistant to change compared with more recent statements, as any change or alteration may threaten the sense of continuity. Change that threatens identities closely associated with these statements, without offering alternatives which respect the company’s history, are likely to encounter a backlash from employees.
My research, conducted with co-authors Innan Sasaki from Lancaster University, Josip Kotlar from Politecnico di Milano, and Eero Vaara from Aalto University, investigated how long-established Japanese firms deal with needing to adapt their company mottos and philosophies to support strategic change. They need to ensure that any changes maintain a sense of continuity with values and guidelines laid out long before by ancestors, which are still revered and respected.
We used archival research, current documents, and interview data to investigate how 25 Japanese companies engaged with the revered part of their history in the face of strategic change: we looked into when, why, and how they had revised their historical mottos. Through the analysis of corporate mottos from these long-established firms, we identified three strategies that managers use to deal with the tension between promoting change and maintaining a company’s sense of continuity with past leaders’ values.
1. Elaborating
An ‘elaborating’ strategy is based on the gradual revision of historical statements, selectively building on and extending parts that support current strategic developments. This helps to maintain a sense of continuity with historical statements by linking part of any new statement with the original one, presenting it as an update rather than a replacement. Managers refocus on historical values that are viewed as relevant in the present, while dropping references to parts of the historical statement that are no longer considered relevant. Successive rounds of elaboration over the years can even lead to aspects of the original statement disappearing entirely and being forgotten.
2. Recovering
‘Recovering’ involves creating entirely new statements that draw on founders’ writings and anecdotes to maintain continuity between historical values and current strategic developments. While these statements are new, they draw explicitly on historical references and documents from the company’s archives. Managers may search for written, oral, or material forms of memory to recover values relevant to the company’s present situation, often in the form of writings from past leaders. By disconnecting the old and new, companies can redirect attention to values and strategies required for modern issues while still claiming continuity with company history through the re-use of past texts and information which had been set aside, presenting any new statement as one that is firmly grounded in the founder’s values.
3. Decoupling
‘Decoupling’allows the co-existence of historical statements and new ones, enabling a firm to maintain continuity with historical values separately while showing concern for new issues that may not have existed at the time historical statements were written. This introduces new and separate statements appropriate for strategic change, targeting modern and emerging issues that could not be addressed based on historical statements, such as social and environmental responsibility. For example, a company increasing in size or public awareness can lead to a greater expectation to behave in a socially and environmentally responsible way. These concerns were not important in the distant past so were not considered in historical values and statements.
These three strategies help managers confront tensions rising from the need to adapt and change while at the same time respecting historical values and guidelines, through different forms of selective remembering and forgetting. ‘Elaborating’ selectively breaks down norms and values from the historical statement which remain relevant to modern day, while allowing the irrelevant parts to be forgotten. ‘Recovering’, however, involves selectively remembering historical texts and ideas that support strategic change, while replacing the original statement.
When these ancient mottos were created, all the firms studied were family owned and many of them still were at the time of our research. Founding values are a distinctive element of family firms that drive their long-term success, with traditions used to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. However, strong attachment to past values can also cause inactivity and inhibit the ability of family firms to change and adapt. Our study shows how family firm managers can take advantage of the inspirational legacy of foundational values, while still adapting to change as it arises.
Our research also offers an insight into the history of one of the earliest methods used by managers to express the fundamental principles of their business: strategic identity statements. These statements are integral to both organisational identity and business strategies, directing attention to strategic issues, setting direction for change, and helping a company stay on course with targets. The strategies detailed show alternative options available to managers to maintain a sense of continuity with a revered and respected past, while still ensuring invaluable adaptation to a changing environment.
Davide Ravasi is Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the UCL School of Management, University College London.
Learn the dos and don’ts of running a successful business in your chosen industry before starting out on your own, says VHR Global Recruitment’s CEO and Founder
‘The key to any business is attracting and retaining the best talent,’ says Danny Brooks, CEO at VHR Global Recruitment (VHR).
With years of experience in the recruitment industry under his belt, Danny started his own company in 2003. VHR now trades in 45 countries worldwide and has an annual turnover of approximately £35 million GBP. Headquartered in London, the firm sources contract and permanent engineers for projects around the world and performs executive searches for C-suite roles.
In this interview, Danny stresses the importance of learning the dos and don’ts of running a successful business before launching a startup. ‘Gain some experience of working in a business in your chosen field before starting out on your own,’ he advises.
Can you tell us a bit about your current role and what is involves?
My current role is a combination of overseeing the running of VHR and its global operations together with meeting new and existing clients to gain an understanding of their current and future business plans to ascertain how VHR can support their project and workforce requirements.
What single piece of advice would you offer undergraduate and post-graduate students of business and management who plan to start their own companies after completing their studies?
Gain some experience of working in a business in your chosen field before starting out on your own. This will equip you with some invaluable lessons of how, and how not, to run a business.
When you do start out on your own, ensure that you get everything in writing in relation to share ownership, and that you have a good shareholder agreement.
Mentorship schemes in business are becoming increasingly popular. Who would have been your dream mentor when you were at the outset of your career and why?
Richard Branson – he has created a premium aspirational brand that transcends different sectors. His companies are seen as being fun or ‘cool’ places to work which makes attracting and retaining quality staff a lot easier. The key to any business is attracting and retaining the best talent.
What are some of the challenges and opportunities you’re currently facing, both as a leader and as an organisation?
Challenges: like many businesses, one of the main challenges we’re facing is Brexit. Any changes to employment law either here or abroad will complicate our business, that’s why we have a dedicated compliance team to make sure we’re on top of any changes that may need to be made.
Opportunities: we’re in the process of opening new offices, and now have premises in the UAE, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic and, soon, Ireland. This enables us to engage better with our international candidates, and allows us to be closer to the work our clients are doing.
The Artificial Intelligence in Management (AIM) Institute at France’s Emlyon Business School is studying real-world issues facing organisations, in an interdisciplinary way. David Woods-Hale speaks to AIM’s Executive Director, Renaud Champion, to find out more
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a talking point among Business School leaders for years, as institutions grapple with the most effective ways of preparing students to operate in the world of robotics. Renaud Champion, Executive Director of the AI in Management (AIM) Institute at Emlyon Business School in Lyon, France, tells us how his School is addressing the challenge.
What does your role as AIM’s Executive Director involve?
My mission is to design and implement the School’s AI strategy at every level, from research to pedagogical content and the development of digital tools.
Given my background as an entrepreneur and an investor in AI and robotics, I have experienced how these technologies are already impacting companies dramatically, in terms of the way work is organised and done, and how they create value. The DNA of the Institute was therefore based around two main questions, which seemed both obvious and relevant from a Business School perspective: how can AI generate value; and how is AI impacting work and governance?
I developed the AIM Institute eight months ago, as a startup within the Business School, to galvanise interest in, and action around, this strategy. But to be successful, a good startup needs the right team, so involving recognised researchers in this ambitious initiative was a first key step.
After only a few months and thanks to the work of the AIM Research Directors, Professor Ruthanne Huising and Professor Margherita Pagani, we already had 20 researchers from different backgrounds involved and were expanding quickly. We could also count on the involvement of Emlyon’s Scientific Committee, made up of leading academics from Stanford, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), University of Texas at Austin, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Florida State University and the University of Southern California, to help us. At this point, it was necessary for me to start working on initial outputs as well as ensuring AIM’s activities gained visibility. To this end, we created a series of seminars and research conferences for our various audiences, plus new pedagogical modules for our students.
What disruptive trends are you observing around AI and its impact on higher education and work?
Our aim at the Business School is to prepare tomorrow’s managers and leaders to work in a technology-driven world. At the same time, it is also the responsibility of each manager – not just of the chief operating officer or chief technology officer – to ask themselves: ‘How can AI help me do my job more efficiently or differently?’
But to do this, managers need to be trained in these technologies, in design thinking methodologies, agility and so on. Companies need to invest in AI but also in their own people to get the most out of these technologies. This is why Emlyon includes courses on data, robotics and machine learning, and on the impact of these technologies on companies, in all its programmes.
It is important for us, as a Business School, to ensure our programmes are increasingly hybrid. However, AI is also transforming pedagogy itself. We are building new AI-augmented tools to support our students in their lifelong learning journey. Digital can help us personalise that experience.
Can you provide some background to the launch of AIM?
Over the past 20 years of working and investing in AI and related technologies, I have been involved in several different projects impacting various markets and sectors, from finance and agriculture, to transport and healthcare.
This experience convinced me that AI is not only an economic opportunity, but also a social opportunity, because it can add value by putting humankind back at the heart of things. Researchers, engineers and product managers must be trained to become ever-more ethically responsible when they design, deploy or use emerging AI technologies. These principles are at the core of the AIM Institute. Our ambition is to understand the world in its complexity; build knowledge from it by taking an interdisciplinary approach, and disseminate this to various audiences in adapted formats, with the use of an omnichannel pedagogy.
Why are there so few empirical studies looking at how AI will impact the workplace?
I believe the reason why there are many predictions about how AI will change business and the way we work, but relatively few empirical studies, is mostly due to companies’ late appropriation of recent AI-driven technologies which are still seen as not being mature enough.
Most companies are still in the middle of their digital transformation and it is difficult for many to look ahead to the AI revolution. But it is coming, and it’s already affecting sectors such as healthcare and transport. Our first goal within the Institute is to work with companies on real-world problems and to support grounded, empirical studies of the way AI can create value around a broad range of business issues, as well as how this technology is changing what it means to work and the way work is organised, done and rewarded.
Can you talk us through the AIM Institute’s priorities of research, innovation and dissemination?
We aim to understand the opportunities and implications of AI for managing organisations, industries and business ecosystems. With this in mind, we have launched several series of seminars and workshops with leading scholars from around the world to address questions exploring the impact of AI on work and value creation, and organise monthly outreach lectures, open to the public, about the technologies behind AI in order to demystify and educate broadly.
On the pedagogical side, we have created an online certificate in AI and business for managers, new courses within our fields of expertise to be integrated into all of Emlyon’s programmes (at bachelor’s, master’s, MBA, and executive education levels), and post regular presentations on the School’s YouTube channel.
How complex is this type of implementation for Business Schools operating in a constantly changing and disrupted tech environment?
As in any other industry, in education we need to adapt constantly and cope with the latest technological breakthroughs. This requires a high level of agility around understanding technologies and being able to anticipate their impact, and this includes identifying the business and organisational issues that could emerge. Our approach is strongly interdisciplinary, so we address different variables across marketing, strategy, sociology and ethnography, alongside technology and ethics.
By building innovative pedagogical solutions based on digital and AI, we are questioning Emlyon’s mission as a School. All these new functionalities challenge the role of the professor. What can algorithms optimise and what should stay in the hands of the teacher? The question of how technology can be used to complement human skills also needs to be tackled in our domain of higher education.
How does your initiative work in practice and why is this a good example of how Business Schools and employers can work collaboratively to address issues such as AI?
On the research side, we have several studies under review by top academic journals and are working on new projects studying human-machine interaction; the impact of smart devices on the supply chain and operations; new business models derived from AI-augmented digital platforms, and how to design and create better user experiences through interactions with new technology.
These projects are interdisciplinary and address real business issues faced by organisations. Working closely with employers in an empirical way is a methodology we favour in order to anchor our actions in the real world. It means we can guarantee that we are relevant and impactful when disseminating this knowledge through pedagogy. We are also working on the creation of our technology transfer department. For every research project, we consider whether the work has the potential to contribute to our understanding of how organisations and institutions can take meaningful and responsible advantage of AI. For example, where we identify projects that have concrete business applications, we could develop patentable models that could be coded and used to develop an application that a partner organisation might find useful. Alternatively, we might explore the possibility of launching and supporting a startup to build on this innovation.
What are the implications of AI for labour markets, organisational design and governance and how can the AIM Institute make an impact here?
Thanks to embedded AI, robots are becoming more intelligent and can work safely alongside human workers. Machines will complement people in the workplace rather than competing with them, and this combination will speed up processes, make things easier for humans and enable people to add human value.
For instance, in automotive factories 10 to 15 years ago, there were huge industrial robots operating behind security fences. But now the robots are becoming more intelligent and are being taken out of cages. Humans are back on the production line and are now operators of robots. From a business perspective, AI can help workers by automating dull, difficult, dangerous, or repetitive tasks.
In addition, AI-augmented systems, when combined with human operators, are always more efficient than human experts alone, or even machines alone. There is a healthcare study which shows that AI analysing a patient’s tumour will not perform as well as a human doctor. But if you combine the human doctor with an AI algorithm, the analysis is a lot more effective.
AI can also be helpful in providing other diagnostic information that doctors can use to make better decisions about patient care. It won’t just be the healthcare sector that has to manage this balancing act, all areas will be affected.
Companies have no choice but to adapt and identify how they can use these technologies for their benefit, from both an economic and people perspective. Some jobs will disappear while new ones will be created.
But rather than focusing on the numbers on each side, I think we need to understand how the whole structure of employment is being transformed by AI: most jobs won’t disappear, they will evolve. This is exactly what the AIM Institute is looking at: understanding how AI will transform the way organisations operate, how they are governed and how they recruit.
Your goal is to create and implement practical solutions from the research – what format will these take?
Everything starts with research. Through our research projects, we generate knowledge. This knowledge will be published in respected academic journals, but it is also the raw material with which we can develop our teaching.
To do this, we will need to translate the research projects and findings into pedagogy, and this requires some engineering. When we talk about innovation within the AIM Institute, it is used first and foremost (but not only) from a pedagogical perspective.
The technology-transfer mechanism, which is most often used in technical universities to build on their research, is something we want to implement. It might not always be possible, but our goal is for the team to consider each opportunity in turn, and in connection with our corporate partners as and where appropriate.
What are the next steps?
We are now entering an acceleration phase and looking to expand globally – first into central and east Asia and Africa, where
Emlyon Business School already has a strong presence, and then into India. We are also recruiting post-doctorates and assistant professors to open up new fields of knowledge around AI’s impact.
We are also finalising online certificates and designing new courses for students. Last but not least, we are working on a new series of seminars, conferences and workshops for the coming academic year. It is an exciting time for us, working on a very exciting subject.
Renaud Champion is the Executive Director of the AI in Management (AIM) Institute and Director of Emerging Intelligences at Emlyon Business School, France. He is also Director of euRobotics AISBL, the European Association of Robotics.
Global trends in female representation and cultural diversity at board level, and the importance of diversity and inclusion policies, from Elena Philipova, Global Head of ESG at fintech data firm, Refinitiv.
Do you know this classic riddle? A father and son are involved in a car crash and are rushed to the hospital. The father dies, but the boy is taken to the operating room. The hospital bans surgeons from treating close relatives, so the doctor takes one look at the patient and says, ‘I can’t operate on this boy. He’s my son.’
How is this possible?
Those who have difficulty with this riddle are unable to imagine that the surgeon is a woman and, therefore, the boy’s mother.
A similar principle applies in the business world where some find it hard to imagine a woman as a company CEO, or a member of a cultural minority on a firm’s board of directors.
The varied picture on D&I
Developing a diverse workforce through policies of inclusion is no longer a theoretical concept. In today’s complex global marketplace, a company with a workforce that reflects the community in which it operates has a better chance of producing superior financial results – and rewarding investors.
Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is an issue which is often given lip service – but a deeper look at the data produces a varied picture.
More than 7,000 companies globally are ranked by the Refinitiv D&I Index, enabling it to identify the top 100 publicly traded companies with the most diverse and inclusive workplaces, as measured by 24 separate metrics across four key pillars. The data used to create the index is taken from the Refinitiv Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) database, from which recent analysis has highlighted some interesting D&I trends.
Trends in board-level gender and cultural diversity
For instance, the percentage of companies reporting on their boards’ gender diversity soared to 98% in 2017 from 60% in 2013, among companies that have had an ESG score for the last five years. However, these same companies seem to have a harder time reporting on their boards’ cultural diversity – the proportion doing this rose to 31% in 2017, from 21% in 2013.
When it comes to the actual level of diversity found on boards, it looks like many of those companies haven’t taken the necessary steps to create more balanced gender representation. Women held a disappointing 18% of board seats in public companies, up from 12% in 2013, while culturally diverse directors made up nearly 29%, roughly even with the figure of 30% from 2013.
Quotas may seem like a radical idea to many, but France has mandated that at least 40% of board members at companies in the CAC 40 stock index must be female since 2017. With quotas also in place in Germany and Italy, Europe was found to be leading the way, with 26% female board membership. The equivalent proportion in North America was 20%, while Japan placed bottom, with 5%.
Europe also led the charts for boards’ cultural diversity, at 35%, with Japan again bringing up the rear, at 12%. Switzerland was the top country for boards’ cultural diversity, at 56%, which is perhaps not surprising in a country with four official languages. The US ‘melting pot’ is among countries with the least culturally diverse company boards, at just 13%.
The business case for D&I and company-wide diversity
Drilling down into an organisation from the board level, it is critically important for companies to develop diverse talent from within and to invest in the future leaders of the business.
Companies that are serious about creating and benefiting from diverse and inclusive workplaces use information like the one powering the Refinitiv D&I Index to inform their strategies, measure progress and communicate with stakeholders – and the investment community is watching closely. The business case for D&I is compelling as more institutional investors use ESG metrics to enhance their investment strategies and inform their thematic solutions, such as the practice of ‘gender lens investing’.
Aside from the boardroom, many companies report on the diversity of their workforce as a whole. Here, we see an improvement in the gender balance, but at a much slower pace over the last five years. The percentage of female employees edged up to 35% in 2017, from 33% in 2013. The percentage of female managers, meanwhile stood at 27% in 2017, compared to 25% in 2013, although this proportion was substantially higher, at 35%, in 2016.
A diverse workforce also includes people with disabilities, a segment of the population that has frequently faced barriers to employment. Progress here has been promising, although a lot more could be done by businesses. The number of companies reporting on percentages of employees with disabilities is still very low, at 17% as of 2017, despite this being an increase from 9% in 2013.
So where are these trends going? Some 85% of companies in the ESG database have a D&I policy, but just 17% report D&I targets against this policy. Companies need to be committed to delivering against those policies and investors need to flag the companies that are following through with some real progress.
Management training and career development tracks
There are some promising trends around management training and policies for career development – crucial for attracting talent and maintaining a positive company culture. The percentage of companies with management training soared to 66% from 35%, and 78% of companies in the database now have career development tracks, up from 40%. Among geographic regions, Europe was the standout performer in both areas, with North America trailing.
In the future, D&I information will become an increasingly important indicator for investors as we are able to successfully overcome gender stereotypes illustrated in the riddle above. We need to push for greater transparency and standardisation on this information and other metrics measured by ESG. That way, we will be better able to understand the linkages between diverse teams and sustainable financial growth, and make more informed investment decisions.
To offer their students value, online programme providers must ensure quality while meeting the needs the industry, says Amity University Online’s Aindril De. Interview by Tim Dhoul.
‘Any academic institution today that intends to add value to its learners, needs to meet the requirements of industry,’ says Aindril De, Academic Director at India’s Amity University Online.
Challenged by the fourth industrial revolution, today’s industries demand that providers of online business education rethink their value proposition and, according to De, provide ‘a distinctive experience that combines the best from the physical and digital worlds.’
Yet, when it comes to the application of digital technology to online education, standards of quality will always be a differentiator for industry recognition. Plus, De says that Amity’s ability to offer online programmes on its own learning platform gives it a responsibility to the student community it aims to serve. ‘For this mode of education delivery, we need to remain focused to ensure quality and derive acceptance from the industry,’ he says.
De hopes that more institutions in India will soon have the opportunity to offer online programmes that are approved by India’s University Grants Commission (UGC), as Amity’s are. In his opinion, this would help break down the barriers that stand in the way of many students’ desire to access quality post-graduate management education, on a timetable and in a format that suits their capabilities and needs. Read the full interview with Amity University Online’s Academic Director below to learn more.
What are some of the biggest challenges facing providers of online business education, both in India and the rest of the world?
The digital era creates a fresh universe of business possibilities, while also generating stress and difficulties of very distinct kinds. The fourth industrial revolution’s challenge is aggressive for all.
Business Schools have to rethink their value proposition massively. Schools need to consider how to give their students something which allows them to learn, and access, the finest skills around the globe, while also providing a distinctive experience that combines the best from the physical and digital worlds.
Providers of online business education, as well as regulators, need to adapt towards the needs of the new era’s learners quickly and enable the universities to ensure that they are able to cater to these needs without compromising and deviating from the expected standards of quality.
How has the demand and the reputation of online education changed over the past five years and how do you expect it to change in the next five years, in your opinion?
A significant change is that there is more demand for skill-based courses, with the best possible use of technology. With improved resources and reduced teacher workloads, classrooms can shift to co-learning spaces, where students can arrive, learn, and engage at their own pace in a collaborative environment. However, this shift is not significantly visible in the formal education space.
The 2018 online education guidelines from India’s University Grants Commission (UGC) will empower the Universities to offer approved online degrees and certificates, which should ensure increased industry acceptance.
What do you think makes your portfolio of programmes stand out from other online programmes?
An articulation of what makes our School’s programmes distinctive are the several international accreditations they hold, of which the latest comes from India’s UGC. Amity is currently the only university in the country which has been approved by UGC to offer programmes and degrees in the online mode. We are also the country’s first university to have our own in-house platform approved for offering online programmes in India.
Amity’s programmes are specifically designed to give a flexible learning environment to the students ensuring ‘anytime-anywhere’ education for students. We also focus on two-way communications, or ‘dialogue teaching’, which becomes exciting for the facilitator as well as for the students involved.
How are programme curricula developed and refined at your School to ensure that they remain in touch with the changing needs of both students and employers?
Any academic institution today that intends to add value to its learners, needs to meet the requirements of industry. At Amity, any curriculum development, review, or upgrade, takes place in alignment with the needs and the feedback received from industry, mapping offerings to the skills they require.
A regular review of curricula and content is also performed, to ensure that what is provided is both current, and global, in nature. In addition, the university organises regular events to ensure that students are constantly exposed to industry trends.
Which single new programme course or initiative is you most excited about and why?
One of the larger institution goals of Amity University is to reach learners who do not currently have access to quality outcome-based education.
The recent UGC approval to offer programmes and degrees online, and on our own platform, has not only given us an opportunity towards fulfilling this goal, it has also invested in us the responsibility towards our student community. For this mode of education delivery, we need to remain focused to ensure quality and derive acceptance from the industry.
How is the School working to boost the employment prospects of its graduates? (E.g. through the use of internship schemes, exchanges, or other industry initiatives)
We ensure student participation in career enhancement activities through exchange programmes, virtual job fairs, volunteering and work-based learning. Mock interviews are also conducted to prepare the students for job interviews.
In addition, we have launched the Amity Future Academy through which students can get career counselling and attend programmes in areas such as soft skills and language proficiency. The university believes in the philosophy of lifelong learning.
Please outline the importance of corporate social responsibility to your Business School’s strategy.
Amity is committed to nation building beyond education and this is reflected in the efforts and initiatives of the Amity Humanity Foundation. Established in 1995, the mission of Amity Humanity Foundation is to support and initiate social welfare activities and create possibilities for equitable social development.
The main areas in which the Amity Humanity Foundation works includes the Amitahsa initiative, which provides free education, uniforms, books, meals, and healthcare to underprivileged girls, and the Swayam Siddha community development programme, which works towards female empowerment through employment generation activities and the formation of self-help groups in rural areas.
What are your hopes for the School in the next five years?
The guidelines of offering degrees through online education have just been formalised in India. In absence of these guidelines, education institutions in India didn’t have a framework for offering online education and hence the acceptance from industry was very limited.
In the next five years, we would like to see more progressiveness and flexibility from the regulators to ensure that online education can truly be delivered in a 100% online mode. We would also like to see other progressive institutions in India being given the opportunity to offer online programmes. This would ensure the disappearance of current limitations of boundaries and distance associated with the acquisition of quality education.
In next five years, we should also be able to build future skills for our students, keep pace with the changing nature of jobs and those that simply doesn’t exist today, as well as to inculcate the habit of being lifelong learners among our students.
Aindril De is Academic Director at Amity University Online. He has worked in both India and in countries that include the US, Singapore, Thailand and Bangladesh in industry and academia with organisations such as Microsoft, Oracle and Wipro. His work has included implementation of ICT-enabled and integrated education systems in higher education, with particular expertise in building proactive support ecosystems to initiate interventions and minimise dropouts in open and distance education.
Startups should be looking to solve genuine problems in society, say brothers and Co-Founders of The Startupreneur, Aakarsh Naidu and Adhikar Naidu.
The organisation works with entrepreneurs and incubators with the goal, as Aakarsh explains, of ‘training them and helping bridge the gap between intent and impact’.
The Naidu brothers both pursued master’s degrees abroad, at the London School of Economics (LSE), but always with the intention of taking their experience and skills back to India. ‘We wanted a global exposure and to come back to India and create an impact,’ Aakarsh says.
This impact includes trying to raise awareness of the organisation’s work among new audiences, through a hip-hop music video available on YouTube. ‘It was about reaching out to new demographics in a new format and a new language,’ Aakarsh explains. Read the full interview below to learn more.
Why did you both choose to study in the UK, and why management at LSE?
Aakarsh Naidu: Our father has been an entrepreneur for more than 30 years, establishing and running some of the biggest companies in India’s green energy sector, so both of us have always had an interest in pursuing business studies.
Having studied business management at undergraduate level, I wanted to specialise in human resource management at a premier institution that offered global exposure, and LSE’s MSc in Human Resources Management was a top-ranked programme. My brother, Adhikar, pursued LSE’s Master’s in Management and Digital Innovation. He was a finance graduate and was working in the investments division of Goldman Sachs, before he discovered his interest in emerging technologies.
LSE’s Department of Management was the perfect platform for both of us to explore and specialise in our areas of interest. The exposure and the global network for a student at LSE is also one of a kind.
Adhikar Naidu: I used to visit my elder brother, Aakarsh, in London, during his time at LSE. I was always enamoured by the legacy of this great institution and the diversity it brings. My brother used to have friends from different parts of the world, who would ask me if I would join the School one day. I used to say, ‘I will one day’ – without realising that I would actually do it!
What were the highlights of the programmes you studied?
Aakarsh: The top highlights for us were getting a unique global exposure and a cultural immersion with access to some of the most talented brains in the world alongside friendships that can span across continents and memories which will last a lifetime.
For me, the HR management programme I took was interdisciplinary in the sense that it gave me the opportunity to study subjects on management, economics and international relations at the same time. I particularly enjoyed the course on ‘Negotiation Analysis’, which was experiential and gave me the opportunity to work with peers across the globe, helping me understand the business and cultural nuances.
Adhikar: I had the opportunity to study concepts in emerging technologies like AI, augmented reality (AR) and VR, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain to name a few. I also received a distinction for my thesis on the VRIO (value, rarity, imitability and organisation) framework for startups in business incubators. The programme and experience as a whole helped cultivate the spark to create an impact through entrepreneurship.
Was returning to India after completing your studies always the plan? Please explain your answer.
Aakarsh: Our reason for studying in the UK was very clear right from the start. We wanted a global exposure and to come back to India and create an impact. We wanted to create an impact in our own country while also being global citizens.
True to this goal, I’ve worked with some top startup incubators and educational institutions, such as, IIM Bangalore and the Indian School of Business. Meanwhile, Adhikar has worked with organisations like Goldman Sachs and the angel investor network, Keiretsu Forum.
Having specialised in our respective fields, we are now pooling our strengths and understanding through our own venture, The Startupreneur, through which we are building a platform to nurture entrepreneurship and innovation not only in India, but also across the world.
You’ve talked about the ‘triple bottom line’ in previous interviews. What does this term mean to you and how does this align with your organisation’s ambitions?
Aakarsh: ‘People’, ‘planet’ and ‘profit’ – these were the magical words that we learnt at LSE while studying the concept of the triple bottom line (TBL). For centuries, the term ‘bottom line’ has been synonymous with money, profit and other monetary markers such as return on investment, shareholder value and cash flow. The TBL approach adds a new meaning to this word by using the combined power of people, planet and profit to measure the health and quality of a business’ impact.
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little ‘extra’ that can make you stand out as an entrepreneur among the crowd. It can take the form of social impact, issues you take up, or an organisation’s ethics and values. The organisational value for us at The Startupreneur is simple: ‘Startups shouldn’t just be about making millions but also helping millions by solving a genuine problem.’ We want to help startups develop sustainable business models that have a social impact.
What would you say is the biggest challenge facing startups and entrepreneurs in India?
Aakarsh: The biggest challenge for startups and entrepreneurs, according to us, is in moving from ‘zero to one’ [the name of Peter Thiel’s 2014 book that stems from Thiel’s teaching on startups at Stanford] and understanding the concept of product/market fit.
This is a mindset problem and requires first-time entrepreneurs to experience the process of starting up before actually starting up. This experience clears a lot of myths around business models, hiring and funding, all of which are necessary for building a successful startup. This is where Startupreneur directly works with entrepreneurs and incubators in training them and helping bridge the gap between intent and impact.
Can you tell us a bit about the startup you are most proud of being able to help get off the ground?
Aakarsh: Singling out one particular startup would be difficult as there have been quite a few startups that have excited us, and we’ve been committed to nurturing and helping them get off the ground.
A few such startups have been an AR/VR startup looking to make curricula and content more accessible to students, a startup which is developing a pollution-control device, and an app which identifies the quickest routes for ambulances to take to hospitals.
We’ve seen Aakarsh’s Startup Song video. What were the reasons behind taking up the mic in support of The Startupreneur’s goals?
Aakarsh: The reasons for coming up with the Startup Song are quite simple; it was about reaching out to new demographics in a new format and a new language (vernacular content). We wanted to create awareness about ‘startupreneurship’ and democratise the concept of ‘starting up’ to different parts of the country.
To our surprise, it achieved what its goal – the average age group of people watching earlier videos from The Startupreneur was about 25-35. However, viewership for the Startup Song was primarily in the age range of 18-25 and was spread more widely across India, thereby reaching new demographics. The best compliment we have received was a startup founder mentioning that her three-year-old was also singing ‘startup, startup, startup’ after listening to the song. That was heartening to hear!
Aakarsh Naidu is an alumnus of the London School of Economics (LSE), Startup Ecosystem Enabler, and is Co-Founder and CEO of The Startupreneur. He has led initiatives at IIM Bangalore’s startup incubator (NSRCEL) and is a mentor at the Founder Institute, World Resources Institute (WRI), and Catalyst for Women Entrepreneurship (CWE).
Adhikar Naidu is Co-Founder and COO at The Startupreneur. He previously worked at Goldman Sachs in India and the US, and has been a speaker at national and international events, such as Google for Startups and Esprit Entrepreneurs. He holds a master’s degree in management and digital innovation from the London School of Economics (LSE).
A Cuban-American master’s in entrepreneurship graduate on how Business School has helped her company to support minority-owned businesses
‘I felt like I was more equipped to become someone else’s CMO than my own CEO,’ says Leyanis Diaz, who launched her own company on the back of a distinguished set of experiences in communications.
When Leyanis enrolled at Business School, she said she, ‘felt like I had no support or help in building my business’. However, by the end of her programme, she says the experience was, ‘the best thing I could have done for myself and for the business’.
That business is Major Marketplace, a platform that aims to change the narrative regarding minority business enterprises (MBEs) by providing them with support, marketing services and brand growth.
Read on to learn more about Leyanis’ work, what she took from her time at Business School and why she believes Oprah Winfrey, ‘is a champion for women and for people of colour everywhere and an inspiration to us all’.
Can you tell us a little bit about your current role and what is involves?
I am the Founder of Major Marketplace, which connects small minority-owned businesses with those who want to support them. It is a unique programme that is on a mission to keep more minority businesses in business by showcasing their innovative and cutting-edge products to a global audience while providing them with the support, connections and education to scale.
Currently, I am a solo founder, which means I do it all: marketing, operations, customer service, human resources, sales, finance, and so on. But I love what I do, and I know that I am making an impact on those who need it most – minority businesses are the heart and soul of communities like the one I grew up in [in Miami, Florida].
Did your Business School experience help get your business off the ground? If so, how?
My Business School experience gave me the tool box I needed to run Major Marketplace. I started the company before attending University College London’s (UCL) School of Management master’s in entrepreneurship programme.
Before attending UCL School of Management, I felt lost and felt like I had no support or help in building my business. Enrolling in the entrepreneurship programme was the best thing I could have done for myself and for the business. The School gave me access to experts, advisors, mentors, resources, funding, support and a global network that I can tap into today and in the future.
What single piece of advice would you offer undergraduate and post-graduate students of business and management who plan to start their own companies after completing their studies?
You do not need to know it all and don’t be afraid to ask for help or to ask what you might think is a dumb question.
My background is in communications. During my undergraduate degree, I studied marketing, PR, television and radio and after graduating, I went on to work for companies such as Nike and Ford. While I was good at what I did, I did not know the first thing about business when I first started my own company. I felt like I was more equipped to become someone else’s CMO than my own CEO.
When I first started, I spent a lot of my time focusing on what I did not have instead of what I did have. [I now appreciate the importance of] understanding what your strengths are and more importantly, what your weaknesses are so you can build a team around you to fill those gaps and seek the help that you need when you need it with more clarity.
Mentorship schemes in business are becoming increasingly popular. Who would have been your dream mentor when you were at the outset of your career and why?
My dream mentor has always been Oprah Winfrey because she is everything I am working to be, a media maven, a philanthropist, an activist, and a businesswoman. She faced many trials and tribulations during her childhood and early on in her career as a black woman in media, but she had a choice to make, she could give up and go home, or keep going and face her obstacles head on.
She did the latter and became the person we all know and love. Today, she is a champion for women and for people of colour everywhere and an inspiration to us all. With Oprah as my mentor, I would have grown as both an individual and as a businesswoman.
What are some of the challenges and opportunities you’re currently facing as a leader?
As a leader, some of my current challenges include being a solo founder and managing my time effectively, filtering through the advice and feedback I receive, and managing my expectations and the expectations of others.
However, my opportunities include graduating from a world-leading university, my background and perspective as a Cuban-American immigrant and as a woman of colour, and the relationships I have made through my work in the community.
Please outline the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to your company’s strategy and why you feel it is important to business approaches as a whole today.
CSR is of great important to Major Marketplace. Corporations’ ability and desire to support initiatives, projects and businesses that align with their interests and values and that have an impact are both interesting and potentially fruitful for us.
CSR is important to business approaches as a whole today because our companies have an effect and influence on people and our planet. To me, CSR is about understanding that what you do has consequences, whether they are good or bad, and about trying to do right by others not because it makes you look good but because you care.
Which three words best describe your approach to leadership (or your management style) and why?
The three words that best describe my approach to leadership are ‘transparency’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘collaboration’.
‘Transparency’ because as the Founder of Major Marketplace, I have to be honest with my team, the minority businesses we work with, and our partners, customers and other stakeholders.
‘Empowering’ because I have to empower those I work with, so they can empower and encourage minority businesses that, in turn, empower their communities.
‘Collaborative’ because I know that there is no ‘I’ in team. In order for us to make the biggest impact on the world, we have to work with others who understand what we are building and are passionate about building a better future together.
Leyanis Diaz is the Founder of Major Marketplace, an online marketplace that works to support minority-owned businesses by providing them with education, merchandising, and connections to a global audience. An extended version of this interview has previously been published on Medium.
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