This episode explores how identities shape the leadership experience and the role of business schools in fostering inclusive, forward-looking institutions.

Recorded at the Deans Conference in Toronto, host Eileen McAuliffe, AACSB's executive vice president, chief thought leadership officer, and managing director of EMEA, sits down with Minna Martikainen, rector at the University of Vaasa, to discuss how a leader’s identity influences their actions. As two women leaders, they explore the role of gender in leadership and whether it is—or should be—a factor in leading today’s business schools and beyond. They examine the following three big questions:

1. How much of your leadership journey has been influenced by your identity as a woman, and how has that identity influenced the way you lead?
2. How do you make sense of the uneven progress women have experienced in leadership opportunities in recent years, and what responsibility do business schools have to sustain forward momentum globally?
3. What actions can institutions take to ensure that more women have access to—and support in—top leadership roles worldwide?

To view a full transcript of the episode, visit https://www.aacsb.edu/insights/podcasts/2025/aacsb-pulse-leading-with-knowledge-caring-and-courage.