When Unigroup recently announced that they were now moving twice as many expatriates out of China as they were into China, it created quite a stir for the global press. A piece by the WSJ stated: "For years, China was a promised land for expanding multinationals and manufacturers, drawing hordes of expatriate employees eager to capitalise on the country’s billion-plus consumers. Could those days…
If there is one thing that teaching a project-based course to 205 MBA students in China, it is that we have to recalibrate how students are engaged, incubated, and engaged, and in this presentation, I spend 30 minutes speaking to how I have attempted (and at times succeed) in doing this. 5 years into this process now, for me the greatest lessons that I myself have learned are: 1. Sustainabilit…
The other day while working with some colleagues on a paper, we began discussing the various approaches to sustainability and responsible leadership that we are seeing within the business school community. A discussion that has been taking place for several years, but what was interesting about this review was to see the progress that has been made, and how we are seeing others look to advance…
Though my time at CEIBS teaching a course on responsible leadership I have been fortunate to meet peers at other schools and within the corporate world who are teaching their students and employees values and issues of society, economics, and the environment. It is a process that at times feels like climbing a sheer faced rock, and given the fact that many schools are still hesitant to say…
For the last three years, I have been fortunate to be working at the China Europe International Business school as an Adjunct Professor of Sustainability and Responsible Leadership. In this time I have facilitated a course that over 600 students have been required to take, and why it is different (and so much fun) is that the students work in teams to understand an issue of sustainability and…
With the conversations around systems and sustainability still largely a moving a target that bounces between emotional polar bears and destructive weather systems, I honestly cannot think of a better time for a focus on understanding the systems that exist in our economy, the impact of our economy on our environmental systems, and taking steps towards applying an economic value to those externali…
I just finished reading the 1997 re-release of Vance Packard's book The Hidden Pursuaders, a fascinating book about how through the addition of psychology and sociology, adverting firms were able to become more effective at placing products in the consumer minds. One section focused on how children soaked up advertising, and through this process, the children could become a huge force in the w…
