To reform business schools, we must reform the mindset of MBAs
I can’t wait to read the upcoming book by Andy Hoffman, Holcim professor of sustainable entreprise at University of Michigan.
This new book titled Business School and the Noble Purpose of the Market will be published by Stanford University Press in April 2025.
In this book, Hoffman explains the intellectual foundation MBA students, faculty, and administrators need to reform capitalism and restore its noble purpose for the 21st century.
Many business students are in fact seeking this kind of education and frustrated that they are not getting it from their professors.
This book will fill in gaps in their education, equipping them with the models and *MINDSET* to rethink shareholder capitalism and serve society’s needs.
In the sentence above, I emphasized the word MINDSET
Indeed, it’s not enough to change existing economic *MODELS* and invent new ones, without changing the MINDSET that undergirds these so-called “new” models.
For instance, “circular economy” and “sharing economy” — which both emerged in the 2010s — were touted as *new* models that offer *virtuous* alternatives to capitalism but sadly today both are implemented (hijacked!) with the same capitalist mindset !
As I explain in my new book The Frugal Economy, B-Schools must *shift* the MINDSET of future managers:
- From Competition to Cooperation
- From Centralization to Distribution
- From Extraction to Regeneration
Cooperation, Distribution, Regeneration are 3 Dharmic Principles that anchor the Conscious Business of the 21st century
Thankfully, some top B-Schools in UK, Europe, India are teaching these 3 Dharmic Principles to their MBAs, hence profoundly shifting their mindset.
MBAs at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford unlearn “competitive strategy” and learn “cooperative strategy” by mastering the Economics of Mutuality (EoM).
EoM encourages businesses to form symbiotic ecosystems that co-create sustainable value for all participating firms as well as for society and the planet. Learn more: https://mutualvaluelabs.com
Through its Centre for India & Global Business, Judge Business School at University of Cambridge teaches Western managers how to foster cooperation between Global North and Global South.
Cambridge MBAs humbly learn inclusive and sustainable business practices — like frugal innovation — pioneered in emerging economies like India.
SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR) — a top B-School — in India trains MBAs to become Wise Leaders and practice Wise Innovation that truly benefits society.
The world’s oldest business school ESCP Business School, founded in France, has enshrined sustainability at the heart of its curriculum.
It’s not enough to change the WHY of business by replacing Profit with Purpose.
We must change the WHO, i.e., the mindset of future managers so they can think, feel, act ethically, inclusively, and frugally.
