Rebuild. Better.

The rebuilding phase currently facing organisations across all industries presents leaders with a choice: meet the new world with progressive, ethical and sustainable business models that are resilient to ongoing disruption – or risk being left behind. To give leaders the tools to take on challenges, the AGSM @ UNSW Business School has embedded a new Responsible Management Curriculum into its programs. The future of business has already begun...

The unprecedented global, economic and human upheaval of the COVID-19 crisis has made the reassessment of business models time-critical. “It’s really a matter of ‘If not now, when?’” says Associate Professor Michele Roberts, AGSM Academic Director. “We’re emerging from the pandemic into massive technological job disruption and, more than ever, organisations that don’t make very bold changes to their business models won’t safeguard their futures.” Any major reset comes with huge potential – if you have the mindset and the vision to recognise it. The unmissable opportunity now? To make business and industry a partner in big-picture environmental and social change. “Leaders in every organisation have to be plotting a positive path into the future and asking what role they and their business can play in making things better for everybody,” says Professor Nick Wailes, Director AGSM and Deputy Dean UNSW Business School. “Our mission is to create leadership programs that can help organisations and society get through periods of uncertainty such as this one – and come out better. Responsible management is now core across all of the education programs we offer – from the MBA to short courses and bespoke executive education courses – and there’s also a real emphasis on capabilities that allow leaders to bring people with them.” Future-looking leaders are hungry for change. In the heat of 2020, the first fulltime MBA students to undertake the new Responsible Management Curriculum said they want careers that incorporate sustainability or social impact. Almost a third want to specialise in this area, while the rest identified ethics as an area where they want to upskill. These values are having an impact far beyond the talent force. Consumers and, increasingly, government policies and international agreements are now being driven by sustainable, inclusive and ethical goals. “Our students are from all backgrounds, all ages, and they want to work for organisations that will meet the needs of people, planet and profit,” says Roberts. “We’re seeing a significant shift where everyone is identifying these as priorities.”