While many leaders are struggling to understand the disruptive changes taking place around them, Ivey researchers are helping frame the conversation about the effect on people, organizations, and society.
For the past year, Ivey professors Tima Bansal, Eric Morse, and Gerard Seijts have conducted intensive interviews with global leaders to gauge the impact of disruption on the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors.
Researchers shared their findings on the implications for organizations and business schools in this new environment before an alumni audience at the Future of Business Education Evening at the Shangri-La Hotel in Toronto.
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“Organizations have always confronted significant societal and economic change,” Acting Dean Mark Vandenbosch said. “Today we are facing far-reaching disruptions – digital transformation, societal disruptions, unstable political and global structures, hyper-competition, innovation and climate change, to name a few.”
Vandenbosch said that disruption is broader, deeper, and arriving faster today than leaders have previously experienced.
“Without reflection and action, leaders trained in a different paradigm will simply be overwhelmed.”
The evening featured keynote speaker Charles Brindamour, Chief Executive Officer of Intact Financial Corporation, followed by a panel discussion with Bansal, Morse, and Seijts, the chief researchers of the Disruption Roundtable Project, moderated by Amanda Lang of BNN Bloomberg.
Vandenbosch said that recent initiatives at Ivey will help the School move forward successfully in an age of disruption:
- A $7-million gift from John Wood, HBA ’64, will establish the John F. Wood Centre for Innovation in Business Learning. This will enable Ivey to play a leading role in addressing the significant disruptions facing business education worldwide; and
- Ivey’s participation with six global business schools, called the Future of Management Education (FOME) Alliance, will accelerate experimentation with, and delivery of, innovative online and blended learning experiences.
The highlights of the research are captured on Ivey’s Business Disruption site, which features the many conversations the researches had with leaders. Participants are invited to share their thoughts with Ivey researchers by clicking on the Share Your Perspective button.
The evening was supported by Sun Life Financial, the Centre for Building Sustainable Value, the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, and the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership.
