The 10 most forward-thinking business courses of 2019

As companies continue to tinker with what it means to be purpose-driven, it’s important to think about the next generation of leaders who will inherit the results, and presumably put their own stamp on the idea.

The Aspen Institute, a nonprofit think tank, has recognized 10 university courses and faculty redefining business education with its 2019 Ideas Worth Teaching Award.

This year, amid a time of increased questioning of capitalism in Western and a growing insistence that companies have a broader responsibility to society than many have acknowledged to date, the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program chose courses and scholars probing divisive issues, including “deep distrust in institutions, fractured public debates, and crises like climate and economic inequality.”

“Since the 1980s, the prevailing ideas in management education have bolstered a version of capitalism that externalizes costs and discounts the future,” says Judy Samuelson, executive director of the institute’s Business and Society Program. The courses selected for the annual award were designed to help reimagine the future of business education, with methodologies ranging from reading historical fiction to modeling the impact of a melting glacier.

Here is the full list of the 2019 honorees, with links to each instructor’s faculty bio page:

Assessing the Broader Impact of Business

Diane-Laure Arjaliès

Western University, Ivey Business School (Canada)

Bridging the American Divides: Work Community and Culture (USA Lab)

Barbara Dyer, Christine Kelly, Thomas Kochan, Leigh Hafrey

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management (USA)

Business and Global Climate Change

John Byrd

University of Colorado Denver Business School (USA)

Global Challenges for Business

Sarah Birrell Ivory