As I reflect on my role as the 14th Dean of Leeds and on the state of higher education in business generally, I am filled with great optimism about our future.
We are in interesting times for business education. Technology and data continue to disrupt and reshape industry after industry. Social, political and economic changes are great. Employer expectations are shifting about how quickly new employees should add value. And with the many ways of accessing content knowledge, business schools must be crystal clear in their value proposition.
Over the past 12 months, we have engaged in an intensive effort to take stock of where the Leeds School and business higher education stands and where it is headed. Based on surveys and strategy sessions with our faculty and staff, roundtables with key influencers in the business community, meetings with our students, in-depth conversations with our board and community members and assessments of many studies on the future of business, we are building our vision of what the future holds.
We are in the fortunate position of having tremendous assets to leverage that few others can imitate. We have a world-class faculty who are producing impactful research and insights. We are located in an unusually powerful and well-connected business community, recognized for producing innovative high-growth ventures that are shaping the future. Our community is highly involved and collaborative, with a “give before you get” orientation and commitment to creating social and economic value. We are part of the prestigious University of Colorado Boulder, one of the most-cited universities in the world, with academic excellence across many disciplines. We are physically located next to the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, a top school that shares our view that bringing together technology and business skills is essential to preparing our next generation of business leaders. And it doesn’t hurt that Boulder is among the smartest (Bloomberg BNA), happiest (National Geographic) and most entrepreneurial (Kauffman Foundation) places to live in the country.
To have a compelling value proposition, business education needs to deliver on each of these. In the past, delivering knowledge alone was sufficient; however, new ways of accessing knowledge and the pace of change demand a different approach. For business schools that are not able to provide a full menu of knowledge, skills, experiences and connections, there are many competitors. For those that can, there is tremendous opportunity.
The Leeds School is uniquely positioned for success in this environment. We differentiate ourselves with a powerful combination of top academic talent from around the globe, a world-class business community at our doorstep and a university committed to facilitating partnerships across campus. This combination allows us to prepare our students to thrive and lead in a future that will look different from today.
I invite you to get to know Leeds in more detail through this special edition of Portfolio. The pages that follow take you inside the vision, mission and values that guide both our daily operations and our long-term strategy. They also highlight key initiatives related to our mission: to positively transform the future of global business by inspiring and educating next-generation leaders and creating impactful knowledge.
Sharon F. Matusik, PhD
Dean, Leeds School of Business
