Leading into the future

Vision, flexibility and deftness are required to navigate the challenges of the present. But today’s leaders also need to scan the horizon for future risks and opportunities. Two MBA degrees focus on building these capabilities.

“Every generation faces change but for this generation of CEOs and other senior leaders, the rate and dimensionality of change is remarkable,” says Associate Professor Vivek Chaudhri, academic director of Executive MBA programs at Melbourne Business School. “The American military coined a term for what leaders are navigating: ‘VUCA’, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.”

Melbourne Business School has designed its Executive MBA (EMBA) and Senior Executive MBA (SEMBA) degrees specifically to upskill the leaders of today and tomorrow. The programs give students the knowledge and lifelong networks that will enable them to strategise across business functions, be confident in the face of ambiguity and ensure their organisations run on a culture of learning and innovation.

“This generation has to think about strategy and value, innovation and experimentation, building resilient organisations and leading their people with empathy,” says Chaudhri. “They have to do all of that in a world in which you can’t envision what tomorrow will look like because there’s such a fog of uncertainty and ambiguity around us.”

The SEMBA program includes three international modules, each of which provides essential grounding in a world that talks globalisation, yet walks to different rhythms depending on the social and cultural influences in various regions.

“For instance, at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany, the focus around strategy and innovation is about long-term commitment, precision and planning and automation. Our partner school on the West Coast of the United States is UC Berkeley and the approach in Silicon Valley is very different – it’s about experimentation, failing fast and pivoting to frontiers.”

Students get direct exposure to CEOs, boards and senior leaders in each of those locations, adding to their invaluable peer networks and gaining local insights from those in the industry.

Plus, students develop strategic skills to map out a multi-faceted plan for their organisation, while being ready to discard it “and navigate by sight when the map doesn’t reflect reality”, says Chaudhri. “Sometimes the right thing to do when you hit a boundary is not to pivot but instead push harder because the value you’re seeking might be on the other side of that obstacle.”