Global conflict pushes geopolitics up the executive curriculum

{"text":[[{"start":7.7,"text":"Yusuf Sidani does not just oversee the growth of executive education courses with a focus on geopolitics and conflict. He is also living and directly applying the lessons he teaches in his own institution as it adapts on the frontline."}],[{"start":21.45,"text":"As the dean of the Suliman S Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut, Prof Sidani believes he and his colleagues are well positioned to respond to rising demand among senior executives for understanding of “the geopolitical context, supply chain management [and] operations”."}],[{"start":41.05,"text":"“The best place to teach leadership in crisis is where we are,” he says. “In Lebanon, we’ve had our own challenges. For the past six years, we’ve been in multiple crises — financial, political and war,” he says. Teaching has continued in its Beirut campus throughout, despite nearby explosions. “For the most part, we hear the sounds. It’s part of our daily living.”"}],[{"start":63.949999999999996,"text":"Like some of its peers, the Olayan school has been part of an intensifying “grey matter rush” of educational institutions into the Gulf in recent years, mirroring the “black gold rush” of past decades in the extraction of oil."}],[{"start":78.69999999999999,"text":"But now the school is having to adapt and delay, as the current Middle Eastern conflicts have introduced instability into the plans of business leaders around the world. Prof Sidani’s school has deferred the opening of a long-planned hub in Dubai until later this year, and is exploring the provision of more programmes at its subsidiary campus in Cyprus."}],[{"start":99.49999999999999,"text":"More broadly, military and economic tensions alike have signalled a switch from theories of the “end of history” to a new era of uncertainty and division, with implications globally for businesses and educational organisations."}],[{"start":112.69999999999999,"text":"Many business schools have adapted existing programmes and launched new ones as interest increases from a broad range of specialists, including a course for the Chief of Staff Association developed with SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan."}],[{"start":126.99999999999999,"text":"Michele Quintano, dean of executive education at Esade, the Madrid business school, says that when it opened EsadeGEO (Esade Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics) in 2010 to teach geopolitics in management courses, the subject “was maybe not so relevant. Now it’s a necessity.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":145,"text":"Last year the school started an open programme on economics, politics and risk management, and it is preparing another on geopolitics for board directors, with a focus on security and defence. “The objective is not to provide answers to this complex environment, but tools that will help leaders operate in this increasingly complex and fragmented world,” says Quintano."}],[{"start":166.3,"text":"Beth Sibly, who heads the executive Geopolitics for Business programme at ESMT in Berlin, observes: “Over the past few years we’ve noticed increased demand for geopolitics from partner companies, and from individuals for open programmes. Before, it was a topic for specialists. Now it’s an area everyone needs to be across. Senior leaders are more directly addressing it.”"}],[{"start":189.70000000000002,"text":"The adaptations required include scenario planning, investment, market decisions, supply chain redesign, diversification, strategy and compliance, Sibly says."}],[{"start":200.20000000000002,"text":"ESMT has had to apply these lessons directly to some of its courses, including the custom programme Leading Organisations into the Future run for the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, which was due to start next month but has now been delayed by the conflict."}],[{"start":215.10000000000002,"text":"Ben Hardy, a professor at London Business School, had to cancel his planned teaching in Saudi Arabia this spring as the conflict in the region worsened, while other programmes his colleagues were hosting in Dubai have been delayed. But they remain confident that demand will resume, and stress that interest from Middle Eastern residents coming to its London base remains strong."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":237.10000000000002,"text":"At the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Professor Simon Evenett is also integrating geopolitics into his courses. “This is a first order issue,” he says. “People are asking, ‘how do we make sense of what’s going on and is it going to go away any time soon?’ Most of our executives are a bit older and grew up in a time when geopolitics didn’t matter.”"}],[{"start":259.45000000000005,"text":"Prof Evenett stresses the importance of seeing geopolitics as a threat to operational continuity and financial performance. But he also highlights cultural and geographical nuances. “Someone from an emerging market will say ‘this has been my world for a long time’,” he says. In other parts of the world, participants prefer to frame issues less politically with terms such as “geoeconomics”."}],[{"start":284.45000000000005,"text":"In November, IMD will launch a three and a half day “leading in a multi-polar world” open-enrolment course on geopolitics and corporate decision-making. Prof Evenett says much of the programme will focus on “sensemaking”, leveraging artificial intelligence to analyse risks and exploring the implications across different corporate functions."}],[{"start":305.05000000000007,"text":"The school has resisted opening a campus in the Gulf, preferring to bring executives to its Swiss headquarters instead and fly faculty in and out of the region to teach. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":315.55000000000007,"text":"Others remain committed to building a more permanent presence. William Dávila is chief executive of the Center for Leadership Development and Innovation in the Middle East, which officially opened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in January this year, run by IE Business School of Spain. He has had to create a department to manage security, flight logistics and insurance. "}],[{"start":337.55000000000007,"text":"“It’s not going to be the same ever,” he says. “The entire world has changed, the region has changed, and we need to know how to work in this new environment.”"}],[{"start":354.55000000000007,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779001833_3567.mp3"}