On this episode of Deans Counsel, Jim Ellis and Ken Kring speak with Blair Sheppard, Special Advisor to Duke Kunshan University, and previously Dean of Duke's Fuqua School of Business. Blair is responsible for directing all of Duke Kunshan's fundraising, corporate development, non-degree program development and regional development for the newly formed campus in China.

From 2012-2024, Blair served as Global Leader for Strategy and Leadership at PwC, where he focused on building resilient strategies and leadership for PwC worldwide, and further sharpened his ability to see further into the future than most of the rest of us.

In this episode, we hear very compelling observations from Blair about four key mega-trends -- climate, technology, global forces and aging -- that he feels will fundamentally reshape every aspect of society (including business, of course).

With us, he shares some insight into how business schools, through their research and teaching, must soon lean into these abrupt changes in societal needs. In so doing, he also lends advice as to how we as leaders should go about the change process of taking faculty through this difficult process, touching on topics such as:

- Why some long-held assumptions are no longer holding

- Our rapidly changing world's impact on curriculum

- Rethinking the teaching of strategy

- How Ai will shape demand for the MBA

Learn more about Blair Sheppard

Comments/criticism/suggestions/feedback? We'd love to hear it. Drop us a note.

Thanks for listening.

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Produced by Joel Davis at Analog Digital Arts

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DEANS COUNSEL: A podcast for deans and academic leadership.

James Ellis | Moderator | Dean of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (2007-2019)

David Ikenberry | Moderator | Dean of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder (2011-2016)

Ken Kring | Moderator | Co-Managing Director, Global Education Practice and Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry

DeansCounsel.com

On this episode of Deans Counsel, Jim Ellis and Ken Kring speak with Gerry Sanders, Dean of UNLV's Lee Business School. In perhaps our most riveting discussion to date, Gerry walks us through his experience during an active shooter incident targeting Lee, and the confusing aftermath.

In addition to feeling firsthand the myriad emotions that arise during and in the wake of this all-too-common, uniquely American occurrence, Gerry received a crash course in university-level crisis communications -- a complicated experience full of hard-earned lessons to say the least.

You'll come away from this episode with some fascinating and instructive insights, including:

•some basic protocols to have in place in the event that the unthinkable comes to your campus

•addressing the need (and prioritizing the response) for information coming from multiple sources (campus, media, personal)

•the cultural shifts that take place following a traumatic event

•managing the communication conflicts between campus and the public

Learn more about Gerry Sanders

Comments/criticism/suggestions/feedback? We'd love to hear it. Drop us a note at feedback@deanscounsel.com

Thanks for listening.

-

Produced by Joel Davis at Analog Digital Arts

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DEANS COUNSEL: A podcast for deans and academic leadership.

James Ellis | Moderator | Dean of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (2007-2019)

David Ikenberry | Moderator | Dean of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder (2011-2016)

Ken Kring | Moderator | Co-Managing Director, Global Education Practice and Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry

DeansCounsel.com

On this episode of Deans Counsel, we've got all three of our moderators -- Jim Ellis, Dave Ikenberry, and Ken Kring -- onboard to speak with Umaimah Mendhro, Founder and President of One League, an organization empowering highly promising, underserved changemakers to realize global impact. Partnering with Stanford, Harvard and MIT as well as global industry leaders, One League is focused on bringing world class education to a highly engaged and academically accomplished set of students who, because of location and economic or social status, are unable to access top graduate-level business education.

Less than 3% of the students at top schools come from the bottom income quartile. As such, tremendous talent is left behind. By making graduate-level education accessible to these typically marginalized groups, One League is truly a disruptive force for good on today's higher education landscape.

This unique episode touches on numerous topics, including:

•modular and online education

•corporate relations and philanthropy

•recruiting and mentoring

•Umaimah's advice to other deans

Learn more about Umaimah Mendhro

Comments/criticism/suggestions/feedback? We'd love to hear it. Drop us a note!

Thanks for listening.

-

Produced by Joel Davis at Analog Digital Arts

--

DEANS COUNSEL: A podcast for deans and academic leadership.

James Ellis | Moderator | Dean of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (2007-2019)

David Ikenberry | Moderator | Dean of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder (2011-2016)

Ken Kring | Moderator | Co-Managing Director, Global Education Practice and Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry

DeansCounsel.com