A New Education for Business Leaders

Reinventing how we teach young adults to be leaders might be the defining opportunity of our time. But it’s going to take a wholesale rethinking of how we educate.

Never before has a generation needed or had access to more tools to take on the real work that needs to be done in our societies. New leaders are emerging who are less willing to define themselves with a job title than their ability to create value wherever they are. In response, hundreds of new higher educational programs have emerged that focus on creativity and preparing students to solve the world’s big problems.

This is because education is shifting from a focus on what works for teachers to a focus on what students need to succeed and thrive. Businesses learned this long ago, with the emergence of the “consumer-driven” paradigm--a self-evident revelation that’s easier to agree with than it is to execute. When education serves students, many of the old beliefs become obsolete; schools that considered themselves competitors become partners by sharing content, faculty and facilities, combining strengths, offering more customized learning, and making life more interesting for all involved.

But in order to truly serve the future leaders of our society, we need to... [read more]